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PRINCETON,   N.  J. 


BX  8491    .H46  v. 3 

Heroes  of  Christian  history 


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HEROES  OF  CHRISTIAN  HISTORY. 

A  Series  of  Popular  Biographies 

BY 

EMINENT  ENGLISH  AND  AMERICAN  AUTHORS. 
To  be  issued  at  brie/ intervals. 

l2mo  Vols.,  bound  in  cloth.    Price,  75c.  each. 

A  series  of  short  biographies  of  men  eminent  in  religious  his- 
tory, by  writers  of  recognized  ability.  Popular  in  style,  trust- 
worthy, and  comprehensive,  and  dealing  with  the  most  interesting 
characters  and  events  in  the  story  of  the  Christian  Church.  The 
series  will  condense,  in  entertaining  form,  the  essential  facts  of  the 
great  body  of  religious  literature,  and  will  have  special  value  for 
the  large  class  anxious  for  information  touching  these  great  men, 
but  unable,  by  reason  of  limited  leisure  or  means,  to  read  more 
elaborate  works. 

HENRY  MARTYN. 

By  the  Rev. 
CHARLES  D.  BELL,  M.A.,  D.D., 
Honorary  Canon  of  Carlisle,  and  Rector  of  Cheltenham. 

WILLIAM  WILBERFORCE. 

By  the  Rev. 
JOHN  S  TO  UGH  TON,  D.P., 
Author  of  "  Homes  and  Haunts  of  Luther,"  "  History  of  Religion  in 
England,"  etc. 

PHILIP  DODDRIDGE. 

By  the  Rev. 
CHARLES  STANFORD,  D.D., 
Author  of  "  Joseph  Alleine,"  "  Homilies  on  Christian  Work." 


STEPHEN  GRELLET. 

By  the  Rev. 
WILLIAM  GUEST.  F.G.S., 
Author  of  "  Fidelia  Fiske,"  "The  Young  Man's  Safeguard  in  the  Perils  of 
the  Age,"  etc. 


RICHARD  BAXTER. 

Bv  the  Rev. 
G.  D.  BOYLE,  M.A., 
Dean  of  Salisbury,  and  late  Vicar  of  Kidderminster. 


JOHN  KNOX. 

By  the  Rev. 
WILLIAM  M.  TA  YLOR,  D.D., 
Of  New  York, 
Author  of  "  The  Limitations  of  Life,"  etc. 


WILLIAM  CAREY. 

By  the  Rev. 
JAMES  CULROSS,  D.D., 
Author  of The  Disciple  whom  Jesus  Loved." 


ROBERT  HALL. 

By  the  Rev. 
£.  PAXTON  HOOD, 
Author  of  "  The  World  of  Anecdote,"  "  The  Romance  of  Biography,"  etc. 


FLETCHER  OF  MADELEY. 

By  the  Rev. 
F.  IV.  MACDONALD. 


JOHN  WYCLIFFE. 

By  thb  Rev. 
JAMES  FLEMING,  B.D., 
Hon.  Chaplain  to  the  Queen,  Canon  of  York,  and  Vicar  of  St.  Michael's, 
Chester  Square. 


THOMAS  CHALMERS,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

By  the  Rev. 
DONALD  ERASER,  D.D., 
Author  of  "Blending  Lights,"  etc. 


JONATHAN  EDWARDS. 

By  the  Rev. 
H.  SINCLAIR  PA  PERSON,  M.D., 
Author  of  "  Studies  in  Life,"  etc. 


***  Copies  sent  by  mail,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of  price. 


New  York:  A.  C.  ARMSTRONG  &  SON,  714  Broadway. 


PHILIP  DODDRIDGE,  D.D. 


CHARLES    STANFORD,  D.D., 

AUTHOR  OF 

"JOSEPH  ALLEINE,"  U  CENTRAL  TRUTHS,"  ETC 


NEW  YORK: 
A.  C.  ARMSTRONG  AND  SON, 

714  BROADWAY. 


[All  rights  reserved.} 


INTRODUCTION. 


THIS  essay  is  the  condensed  result  of  much  inquiry. 
The  best  thanks  of  the  author  are  due  to  the  Rev. 
Principal  Newth,  D.D.,  by  whose  kindness  he  has  had 
access  to  many  curious  relics  and  papers,  as  well  as  to 
the  original  MSS.  of  Doddridge's  correspondence,  left  by 
the  late  Joshua  Wilson,  Esq.,  and  now  in  the  library  of 
the  New  College,  London  ;  to  Dr.  Risdon  Bennett, 
President  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  who  has 
allowed  him  to  use  interesting  documents  inherited  from 
the  Rev.  Risdon  Darracott,  one  of  Doddridge's  pupils  ; 
to  John  Taylor,  Esq.,  of  Northampton,  who  has  helped 
him  greatly,  and  with  untiring  courtesy;  to  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Arnold,  who  now  occupies  Doddridge's  pulpit ; 
the  Rev.  J.  T.  Brown,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Clemance,  and 
his  successor  at  Nottingham,  the  Rev.  John  Bartlctt, 
ministers  who  have  entrusted  him  with  the  loan  of  their 
valuable  church  books ;  to  the  Rev.  Principal  Angus, 
D.D.  j  Sir  Charles  Reed,  M.P.  ;  the  Rev.  Sidney  W. 
Bowser,  of  Exeter ;  the  Rev.  Walter  W.  Martin,  Rector 
of  Shepperton  ;  the  Rev.  A.  E.  Seymour,  Vicar  of  Barn- 
staple ;  the  Warden  of  Wadham  College,  Oxford,  and 
Arthur  Burrell,  Esq.,  of  the  same  College  ;  the  Rev.  E. 
Hipwood,  Kibworth ;  the  Rev.  J.   Balshaw,  Newport 


vi 


INTRODUCTION. 


Pagnell ;  W.  Chapman,  Esq.,  Waverley  House,  Kingston- 
on-Thames  ;  J.  F.  Nichols,  Esq.,  of  the  Bristol  Free 
Library,  and  others. 

Many  of  these  gentlemen  have  furnished  him  with  the 
knowledge  of  facts  never  before  printed.  From  such 
materials,  and  from  reliable  traditions,  he  originally 
prepared  the  manuscript  of  a  much  larger  work  than  the 
present.  It  seemed  to  be  wanted.  Few  Christian  leaders 
in  the  last  century  were  so  active,  representative,  and 
influential  as  Dr.  Doddridge.  "  He  laboured,  and  other 
men  have  entered  into  his  labours."  But  although  we 
have  Mr.  Orton's  biography,  and  Dr.  Stoughton's  grace- 
ful centenary  memorial  of  him,  he  is  now  too  much 
forgotten.  "  Who  was  Dr.  Doddridge  ?  "  "  Was  he 
really  an  Unitarian  ?  "  "  Did  he  write  anything  besides 
the  '  Pilgrim's  Progress  '  ?  "  "  What  did  he  do  ?  "  These, 
or  similar  questions,  are  sometimes  asked,  and  this  book, 
as  at  first  written  with  great  delight,  was  intended  to 
supply  all  the  information  that  could  be  found.  The 
writer,  however,  gradually  felt  a  suspicion  that  busy 
modern  men  could  not  spare  time  to  give  it  attention, 
and  he  has  therefore  cut  it  down  to  what  it  is,  in  the  hope 
that  by  so  doing  he  may  gain  more  readers,  and  do 
more  good. 


July,  1880. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

THE  FAMILY  RECORDS  I 

IL 

EARLY  DAYS  i  13 

III. 

KIBWORTH  HARCOURT  21 

IV. 

SETTLEMENT  AT  NORTHAMPTON        ....  37 
V. 

HIS  ANSWER  TO  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  DAY.        .  42 
VI. 

MARRIED  LIFE  55 

VII. 

THE  ACADEMY  67 


VIII. 

SAYINGS  AND  DOINGS  IN  CONNECTION  WITH  THE 

GREAT  REVIVAL  83 


VU1 


CONTENTS. 


IX. 

LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  GENERAL  SOCIETY  B        .  lOJ 

X. 

THE  OLD  MEETING-HOUSE  122 

XI. 

DODDRIDGE,  KING  GEORGE,  AND  THE  PRETENDER      1 33 

XII. 

PLANS  FOR  CHRISTIAN  UNION  15 1 

XIII. 

WRITINGS   159 

XIV. 

THE   INNER  LIFE    SPRINGING  :    THE    OUTER  LIFE 

SPENT  171 


ERRATA. 


On  rage  42,  after  the  motto,  for  Byron  read  Byrom. 
»     .»    59.  in  9th  line,  for  "high  living"  read  "high  thinking." 


THE  FA  MIL  Y  RECORDS. 

"I  have  thought  that  such  little  records  might  be  useful  in  fami- 
lies, whether  the  subjects  of  them  were  good  or  bad.  A  lighthouse 
may  strve  equally  the  purpose  of  leading  you  into  a  haven,  or  de- 
terring you  from  a  rock." 

William  GiLriN,  Vicar  of  Boldre,  1753. 

T  N  the  days  of  King  Edward  the  Confessor  there  lived 
j_  a  man  named  Dodo.  According  to  "  Domesday- 
Look  "  he  owned  certain  manors  in  the  county  of  Devon. 
One  of  these  was  near  Crcditon,  and  here,  it  is  said,  he 
fixed  his  home.  In  that  land  of  picturesque  dells  and 
declivities  it  was  natural  that  Dodo  should  build  his  house 
upon  a  ridge ;  and  having  done  so,  it  was  natural  that 
Dodoridge  should  henceforward  be  the  name  both  of  the 
place  and  of  the  people  who  dwelt  there.  Tradition  tells 
us  that  this  was  the  case,  and  that  here  the  family,  though 
"  minished  and  brought  low,"  had  some  land  left  after  the 
Normans  had  taken  all  their  other  lands  away. 

The  modern  Doddridges  are  supposed  to  be  descen- 
dants from  this  ancient  Dodo.  There  is  no  documentary 
proof  of  this,  but  it  looks  likely,  and  the  supposition 
tallies  both  with  their  undisputed  claim  to  Saxon  origin 
and  with  the  story  of  Prince,  who,  writing  about  them  in 
1702,  says,  "the  domain  of  Doderidge,  in  the  hundred 
of  Crcditon,  had,  long  since,  lords  so  called." 

The  first  person  of  the  name  about  whom  we  have  any 
historical  certainty  was  one  Richard  Doddridge,  who,  in 
the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  left  South  Moulton,  where 
2 


2 


THE  FAMILY  RECORDS. 


he  was  a  landowner,  and  where  his  children  were  born, 
to  establish  himself  at  Barnstaple,  at  which  place  he 
afterwards  became  an  influential  merchant  and  magistrate. 
A  few  notices  of  him  still  remain  in  the  locality,  like  faint 
footprints  on  the  sand,  hardly  more  than  showing  that  he 
has  been  there,  and  that  he  was  a  man  of  mark.  Among 
these  is  an  entry  in  an  old  journal  belonging  to  the  Cor- 
poration, to  the  effect  that  in  the  spring  assizes  of  1590 
"  Lord  Anderson,"  the  judge,  lodged  at  his  house;  and 
there  are  also  entries  under  the  various  usual  capita  in 
the  Church  Register  :  for  instance,  we  have  the  following 
under  the  head  of  Baptisms  : — "  Grace,  a  neiger  servant 
of  Mr.  Richard  Doddridge,  April  6,  1596."  This  gentle- 
man was  the  grandfather  of  Dr.  Doddridge's  grandfather ; 
to  make  out  which  fact  we  now  have  something  to  say  in 
order  about  three  of  his  sons. 

John,  his  first  son,  was  born  at  South  Moulton,  in  the 
year  1555,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty  became  "a  sojourner" 
at  Exeter  College,  Oxford  ;  where,  according  to  Wood, 
"  he  obtained  the  reputation  of  a  severe  student  and  a 
noted  disputant."  After  a  residence  of  four  years  he 
took  one  degree  in  arts,  and  about  the  same  time  his 
name  was  entered  in  the  admission  register  of  the  Middle 
Temple.  In  the  years  1593  and  1602  he  was  appointed 
Lent  Lecturer  at  the  New  Inn.  In  1603  he  was  made 
Serjeant-at-law  to  Prince  Henry.  In  1604  he  was  dis- 
charged from  that  office  by  special  writ,  when  he  became 
Solicitor-General  to  King  James  the  First.  In  the  same 
year  he  was  returned  M.P.  for  Horsham.  In  June,  1607, 
he  was  constituted  one  of  the  King's  Serjeants.  In  the 
month  following  he  received  the  honour  of  knighthood. 
After  an  interval  of  five  years  he  was  made  one  of  the 
Justices  of  the  Common  Pleas,  and  after  that,  of  the 
King's  Bench.  On  the  25th  of  November,  1613,  "a  depu- 
tation from  Oxford  University,  consisting  of  the  Vice- 
Chancellor,  both  Proctors,  and  five  Academicians,"  came 
to  Serjeants'  Inn  for  the  purpose  of  conferring  upon  him 
the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  a  compliment  altogether 
without  precedent. 


THE  FAMILY  RECORDS. 


3 


Sir  John  was  the  author  of  several  works  on  professional 
subjects,  having  the  following  titles :  "  The  Lawyer's 
Light,"  "The  Compleat  Parson,"  "An  Historical  Ac- 
count of  the  Ancient  and  Modern  Estate  of  *  *  Wales, 
Cornwall,  and  Chester,"  "Treatise  on  the  King's  Pre- 
rogative," and  "Honor's  Pedigree."  These  books  are 
now  mainly  interesting  as  literary  antiquities.  Each  leaf 
looks  dry  as  an  old  dry  door  in  a  Tudor  gatehouse,  and 
is  studded  with  the  nails  of  quaint  and  learned  quotation. 
They  were,  however,  quoted  as  oracles  by  the  men  of  his  day, 
by  whom  he  was  distinguished  as  "  that  ancient  Father  of 
the  Law,  the  Reverend  and  Learned  Sir  John  Dodoridge." 

The  common  people  generally  called  him  "  The  Sleep- 
ing Judge,"  from  his  habit  of  keeping  his  eyes  shut  during 
a  trial.  If,  however,  any  rogue  ever  thought  that  his 
reverend  lordship  had  melted  off  into  the  gentle  luxury 
of  sleep,  that  rogue  always  found  in  due  time  that  he  had 
been  mistaken.  He  only  shut  his  eyes  while  hearing,  as 
Richard  Hooker  did  while  preaching,  to  shut  out  all 
sublunary  distractions.  The  eyes  of  his  body  might  be 
shut,  but  it  seems  that  the  eyes  of  his  soul  were  open; 
for,  says  Thomas  Fuller,  "  his  soul  held  the  scale  of  justice 
with  so  steady  a  hand  that  neither  love  nor  lucre,  fear 
nor  flattery,  could  bow  him  to  either  side." 

This  testimony  must  be  accepted  with  some  reserve.  He 
was  not  immaculate.  "  When  the  practice  of  privately 
interrogating  the  judges  was  adopted,"  Lord  Bacon  in- 
forms us  that  he  made  no  objection.  Like  some  of  his 
colleagues  on  the  judicial  bench,  he  was  too  ready  to 
accommodate  his  opinions  to  the  royal  wishes.  This  was 
shown  when,  in  1627,  he  and  they  refused  to  admit 
Hampden  and  others  to  bail,  after  they  had  been  com- 
mitted for  not  paying  a  loan  demanded  by  the  king 
without  Parliament.  On  their  being  called  before  the 
House  of  Lords  in  the  following  April,  to  assign  reasons 
for  this  arbitrary  decision,  though  he  attempted  to  justify 
it,  he  seemed  to  acknowledge  that  there  had  been  some 
mistake,  by  concluding  in  this  strain  of  apology  :  "  It  is 
no  more  fit  for  a  judge  to  decline  to  give  an  account  of 


4 


THE  FAMILY  RECORDS. 


his  doings  than  a  Christian  of  his  faith.  God  knoweth 
I  have  endeavoured  to  keep  a  good  conscience,  for  a 
troubled  one  who  can  bear?  I  have  now  sat  in  this 
court  fifteen  years,  and  I  should  know  something;  surely 
if  I  had  gone  in  a  mill  so  long,  dust  would  cleave  unto 
my  clothes  !  I  am  old,  and  have  one  foot  in  the  grave, 
therefore  I  will  look  to  the  better  part  as  near  as  I  can. 
But  '  Omnia  habere  in  memoria  et  innullo  errare  divinum 
potius  est  quam  humanum.'  "  1 

He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries.2 In  the  Cottonian  MSS.  are  two  letters  of  his, 
miracles  of  delicate  penmanship,  written  to  Sir  Robert 
Cotton  on  its  affairs. 3  From  affectionate  references  to 
him  in  correspondence,  and  in  other  ways,  we  find  that 
he  was  much  valued  as  a  friend  by  such  men  as  Bishop 
Andrews,  Camden,  Spelman,  Stowe,  Sir  Philip  Sidney, 
and  Sir  John  Davies.  It  was  no  slight  honour  to  be  a 
star  in  such  a  constellation. 

Sir  John  was  married  three  times,  but  had  no  children. 
What  he  thought  about  this  comes  out  in  the  language 
of  one  of  his  dedications  :  "  Among  temporal  blessings 
given  from  God  and  poured  upon  men  this  is  not  the 
least — for  a  man  to  behold  the  fruit  of  his  own  body, 
surculum  ex  radice.  An  impe,  a  graffe,  the  olive  branches 
about  his  table,  the  hope  of  his  posterity,  the  image  of 
himself,  and  the  staff  of  his  old  age,  the  consideration 
of  the  want  whereof  caused  that  good  old  patriarch  out 
of  the  bitterness  of  his  soul  to  cry  and  make  his  complaint 
to  God  in  these  words  :  '  Lord  God,  what  wilt  thou  give 
me,  seeing  I  go  childless,  and  lo,  one  born  in  my  house 
is  mine  heir  ? '  " 

He  died  at  Fosters,  near  Egham,  in  Surrey,  on  the 
13th  of  September,  1628;  and  was  buried  in  great 
state  in  Exeter  Cathedral,  on  the  14th  of  October  next 
following. 

In  the  Lady  chapel  of  that  cathedral,   under  two 

*  "Parliamentary  History,"  vol.  ii.  p.  29I. 

*  "Introduction  to  the  Archrwlogia." 

s  Cottonian  MSS.  "Julius  C."  vol.  iii.  p.  149. 


THE  FAMILY  RECORDS. 


5 


separate  arches  in  the  thick  wall,  there  are  monuments 
to  him  and  his  lady.  That  of  the  Judge  is  a  rich 
sarcophagus  of  black  and  white  marble,  on  which  is 
placed  his  recumbent  figure,  dressed  as  in  life.  Much  of 
the  scarlet  on  the  robe  remains,  also  much  of  the  colour 
in  the  heraldic  devices.  Only  a  few  specks  of  gold  gleam 
in  the  letters.    The  epitaph  closes  with  the  words  : 

Nunc  obit  Doperigvs  iudex 

Learning  aDieu  for  Doderidge  is  gon 

To  fix  his  earthie  to  the  heavenlie  throne. 

Like  the  long  Latin  inscription  over  his  effigy,  the 
story  of  his  life  is  now  so  dim,  that  few  will  take  pains  to 
decypher  it.  He  is  only  historical  by  what  appears  to 
have  been  his  obsequious  and  unwise  support  of  the  royal 
prerogative  as  exercised  against  the  liberties  of  England. 
Still,  he  was  a  great  man  in  his  day,  and  verily  meant  to 
do  right.  If  you  wish  to  see  his  picture,  it  is  in  the 
National  Portrait  Gallery,  South  Kensington  ;  to  which 
place  it  has  been  removed  by  order  of  Government  from 
the  Bird  Gallery  in  the  British  Museum,  where  it  hung 
for  many  years  just  over  the  Dodo  {Didus  incpius,  Lin.). 

Pentecost,  was  the  second  son  of  Richard,  and  to 
him  the  Judge  left  all  his  estates.  The  son  and  represent- 
ative of  Pentecost,  John  Doddridge  the  second,  was  born 
on  the  nth  of  November,  1610;1  was  educated  at  Pem- 
broke College,  Oxford,  took  his  bachelor's  degree  in  1642  ;3 
was  called  to  the  bar  at  the  Middle  Temple,  at  some  time, 
now  untraceable,  and  was  made  Recorder  of  Barnstaple. 
Prince  assures  us  that  he  "was  excellently  well  skilled  in 
all  parts  of  learning,  especially  in  antiquities."  His 
only  brothers   died  shortly  after  taking  his  Master's 

1  Barnstaple  Parish  Register. 

2  M.S.  Register  in  the  Bodleian  Library. 

3  This  was  Richard,  who,  according  to  the  Barnstaple  Register, 
was  baptized  "Nov.  19,  1615."  His  name  occurs  in  the  lists  of 
Exeter  College,  Oxford,  as  having  matriculated  there  in  1634. 
"Ano  Dfii  1634  to  Sept  9°  Rickiis  Doddridge  Devon,  fil.  Pente- 
costi  Doddridge  de  Barnstable  in  com  prd.  Gen.  an.  nat.  18."  lie 
took  B.A.  in  1637,  and  M.A.  in  1640.  The  tombstone  of  Pentecost 
is  in  the  chancel  of  Barnstaple  parish  chuieh. 


6 


THE  FAMILY  RECORDS. 


degree  at  Exeter  College;  and,  shortly  after  the  death 
of  this  brother,  on  February  23,  1643,  his  father  died, 
leaving  him  everything  he  had.  A  vacancy  occurring  in  the 
representation  of  Barnstaple,  he  was  chosen  to  serve  it  as 
one  of  its  members  in  the  Long  Parliament.  It  was  the 
passion  of  his  life  to  fight  for  the  liberties  of  the  people 
as  represented  by  the  House  of  Commons.  This  brought 
him  into  conflict  with  the  policy  of  Charles,  but  he  was 
opposed  to  all  extreme  measures  in  dealing  with  the 
king  personally.  When,  on  the  5th  of  December,  1648, 
the  Commons  passed  a  vote  tending  to  accommodation 
with  the  king,  and  the  soldiers  under  Colonel  Pride 
excluded  the  majority  by  force,  he  was  one  of  the  ex- 
cluded ;  and  his  name  appears  in  the  list  of  protesters 
given  in  the  pamphlet  issued  on  the  second  day  of  the 
following  January,  and  entitled,  "Vindication  of  the 
Imprisoned  Members."  When  the  third  parliament  of  the 
Protectorate  was  called  in  July,  1656,  he  was  returned 
member  for  Bristol,  of  which  city  he  was  at  that  time  the 
Recorder.  Being  one  of  those  against  whose  name  Crom- 
well's Council  had  made  a  black  mark,  he  was  not  allowed 
to  enter  the  House.  Against  this  act  of  violence  he  joined 
in  an  appeal,  which  seems  to  have  had  effect,  for,  on 
February  4,  1657-58,  we  find  him  in  his  place,  taking  part 
in  an  exciting  debate.  The  Commons  had  to  answer  a 
message  from  Cromwell's  newly-created  Lords,  and  the 
question  on  which  much  was  thought  to  hinge  was, 
whether  they  should  be  addressed  as  "the  House  of 
Peers,"  or  only  as  "  the  other  House  ''  ?  We  learn  from 
the  short  and  broken  notes  of  his  speech  that  yet  survive, 
that  he  said  :  "  I  am  not  only  against  the  title,  but 
against  the  thing."  A  patrician  order  is  the  growth  of 
time  ;  "  but  this  House  of  Lords  is  only  an  embryo — it 
is  a  child  of  four  months  old  —  it  wants  form  and 
figure."  Then  he  went  on  with  other  objections. 
Serjeant  Maynard  followed,  but  as  he  was  speaking,  the 
debate  was  interrupted  by  the  Usher  of  the  Black  Rod, 
and  the  members  of  the  "Talking  Apparatus"  were 
summoned  to  meet  his  awful  Highness  in  the  House  of 


THE  FAMILY  RECORDS. 


7 


Lords,  when  he  delivered  his  last  public  speech,  closing 
it  with  the  memorable  sentence,  "  I  do  dissolve  this 
Parliament,  and  God  judge  between  you  and  me." 
On  December  5,  1657,  he  edited  certain  manuscript 
essays  written  by  eminent  jurists,  his  late  uncle  being 
one  of  them;  and  published  them  in  a  book  entitled, 
"  Opinions  touching  the  Antiquity,  Power,  Order, 
State,  Manner,  Persons,  and  Proceedings  of  the 
High  Courts  of  Parliament."  To  this  he  prefixed  a 
discourse  of  his  own  on  "Free  Parliaments,"  in  which  he 
says,  "  It  hath  been  the  opinion  of  our  ancestors  that 
to  a  Parliament  rightly  constituted,  there  ought  to  be  a 
lawful  summons,  a  free  election,  a  true  return,  liberty  of 
admission  into  the  House,  and  a  quiet  session  there, 
with  a  just  freedom  of  speech  and  debate,  without  fear  of 
disturbance ;  these  they  accounted  the  essentials  of  a 
Parliament  :  if  there  be  an  error  in  any  of  these,  it  soon 
declines  and  loseth  its  true  vigour  and  authority.  As  for 
privileges  of  Parliament,  they  esteemed  them  of  that 
absolute  necessity  that,  if  they  were  denied  or  interrupted, 
it  cannot  properly  be  a  Parliament  any  more  than  the 
body  can  be  without  a  soul." 

Along  with  the  old  treasures  belonging  to  the  Bristol 
municipalia  may  be  seen  two  large  silver-gilt  flagons, 
richly  chased,  and  bearing  the  inscription,  "  Ex  dono 
Johanis  Dodridge,  Recordatoris  Civitatis  Eristoll,  1658." 
A  recent  examination  of  his  will,  which  was  written  in  the 
same  year,  has  opened  a  further  insight  into  what  he  was. 
In  connection  with  many  other  bequests,  we  find  that  lie 
left  to  Harvard  College,  in  New  England,  the  yearly  sum 
of  ten  pounds  for  ever,  issuing  from  the  rectory  of  Frem- 
ington,  of  which  he  was  lay  impropriator  ;  he  left  a  legacy 
to  each  of  the  famous  Presbyterians — his  "very  dear 
friends" — Edmund  Calamy,  B.U.,  Doctor  Bates,  and^ 
James  Nalton ;  also  one  to  his  cousin,  Mr.  John  Dode- 
ridge,  minister  of  Shepperton.  A  large  sum  was  left  to 
his  friend,  Mr.  Nathaniel  Mather,  the  vicar  of  Barnstaple, 
who,  after  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  became  Independent 
minister  at  Lime  Street,  and  to  the  memory  of  whose  rare 


8 


THE  FAMILY  RECORDS. 


piety  and  learning  Dr.  Watts  has  inscribed  some  Latin 
verses  ;  he  bequeathed  a  sum  of  fifty  pounds  annually  to 
the  incumbent  of  the  church  at  Ilfracombe  ;  also  a  similar 
sum  for  the  endowment  of  a  lecture  in  the  parish  church 
at  Fremington,  whose  minister  at  that  time  was  Mr. 
John  Bartlet,  one  of  his  personal  friends,  who  had  also 
contracted,  as  it  is  said,  "an  intimate  and  most  endearing 
friendship  with  the  great  John  Howe."  Mr.  Doddridge 
had  married  three  times,  but  was  without  family.  After 
suitable  provision  for  his  widow,  the  substance  of  his 
property  was  divided  between  his  two  sisters.  The  parish 
library  at  Barnstaple  was  "  finished,"  so  we  read  in  the 
old  catalogue,  "  by  the  executors  of  that  worthy  and 
pious  benefactor,  John  Doddridg  Esquire ;  by  whose 
bounty  it  was  also  furnished  with  many  worthy  books." 
He  died  at  Cheshunt  on  the  22nd  of  March,  1666,  it  is 
supposed,  at  the  house  of  his  father-in-law,  Sir  Thomas 
Dacres. 

The  next  son  of  the  patriarch  Richard  was  the  great- 
grandfather of  our  divine.  In  one  of  the  Ilarleian  MSS. 
on  Devonshire  pedigrees,  date  about  1630,  there  is  his 
name,  "  Philip  Dodderidge,"  under  his  shield  of  arms, 
drawn  byRidnrd  Munday.1  No  other  particulars  are 
given.  His  only  sen  was  the  third  John  Doddridge. 
He  is  thus  entered  in  the  matriculation  lists  of  the  New 
Inn  Hall,  Oxford:  "  1638.  March  22.  John  Doddridge, 
Middlesex,  son  of  Philip  Doddridge  of  Thistleworth  in 
the  county  aforesaid,  of  good  rank,  aged  18."  2  There  is 
no  record  of  his  taking  M.A.  preserved  in  Anthony 
Wood's  MSS.  of  the  Registers  ;  probably  this  was  lost  in 
the  confusions  of  the  Civil  War,  just  at  this  time.  In 
1649  he  was  presented  by  Sir  Henry  Reynell  to  the  living 
of  Shcpperton,  in  his  father's  neighbourhood.  The  parish 
church  of  St.  Nicholas  was  near  the  Thames, — so  near, 

1  Arms  : — "Argent,  two  Pales  wavy,  Azure  ;  between  nine  Cross 
Croslets,  Gules." 

2  Copy  :— "  Aula  Novi  Hospitii.  Aiio  Dni  1638.  Mar.  22. 
Jones  Doddiidge  Middlesex,  fil.  Phillip.  Dodd.  de  Thistleworth  in 
Com.  prd.    Gen.  an.  nat.  18." 


THE  FAMILY  RECORDS. 


9 


that  early  in  the  century  it  had  been  washed  away  by  an 
overflow  of  the  river,  and  the  new  church  had  been  built 
in  1614,  out  of  the  debris  of  the  old  structure.  His  sphere 
of  pastoral  work  was  no  serene  Arcadia.  Almost  every 
parish  was  then  an  epitome  of  the  nation,  and  consisted 
of  two  fighting  parties.  It  was  worse  here  than  in  most 
places,  for  many  of  the  parishioners  were  burning  with 
the  wrong  done  to  their  former  much-beloved  rector,  Mr. 
Lewis  Hughes,  who  had  been  ejected  by  Parliament  in 
the  close  of  1648,  for  his  bold  censures  of  iis  proceedings 
against  the  king.  It  was  probably  assumed  that  the 
minister  who  had  been  put  in  his  place  was  one  of  those 
who  had  consented  to  the  king's  death.  Nothing  has 
been  more  common  than  to  charge  men  of  his  ecclesias- 
tical principles  with  this,  yet  nothing  could  be  more 
unfair,  for  it  was  notoriously  a  mere  military  act,  against 
which  the  Presbyterians  protested.  Whatever  may  have 
been  the  cause,  it  is  certain  that  his  life  at  Shepperton 
was  an  unsettled  one.  Nothing  can  give  more  affecting 
proof  of  this  than  the  state  of  the  parish  archives.  Dur- 
ing his  fourteen  years'  tenure  of  office,  we  find  no 
marriages  recorded  until  the  last  year,  when  there  are 
five.  One  baptism  and  two  funerals  are  noted  in  the 
last  three  years,  but  all  is  blank  before.  When,  in 
August,  1662,  the  Act  of  Uniformity  was  passed,  Mr. 
Doddridge  seems  to  have  hesitated,  for  he  officiated  in  the 
Church  so  late  as  February  18,  1663.  At  length,  con- 
science compelled  him  to  resign,  and  of  course  he  was 
a  great  loser  for  conscience'  sake.  In  the  Parliamentary 
Survey  made  in  1650,  and  the  MS.  report  of  which  is 
kept  in  the  Lambeth  Library,  he  is  mentioned  as  pos- 
sessed of  a  yearly  income  of  ^130,  besides  the  tithes 
from  certain  farms  and  meadows,  and  the  glebe  land  of 
nineteen  acres.  Taking  into  account  the  difference  in  the 
value  of  the  currency  between  that  and  the  present  time, 
he  had  to  resign  a  large  income,  and  with  his  family  of 
ten  children  to  provide  for,  this  was  a  grave  sacrific  e. 
Henceforward  he  had  to  lead  a  harassed  and  restless  life, 
in  the  course  of  which  he  spent  all  his  patrimony.  In 


10 


THE  FAMILY  RECORDS. 


his  latter  days  he  was  the  pastor  of  a  small  congregation 
of  devoted  friends  who  met  near  Brentford,  and  most 
likely  in  some  private  house.  According  to  Calamy, 
"he  was  an  ingenious  man  and  a  scholar;  an  acceptable 
preacher,  and  a  very  peaceable  divine."  In  September, 
1 689,  he  died  suddenly.  His  people  might  have  expressed 
their  sorrow  in  words  that  we  find  in  an  old  church  book, 
and  that  were  written  about  this  time,  concerning  the 
sudden  removal  of  another  minister  :  "  He  was  taken 
away  suddenly,  when  very  few  of  the  congregation  had 
any  knowledge  of  his  weakness,  that  they  might  lift  up  a 
prayer  for  him.  .  .  .  His  removal  was  public  losse  to  the 
Interest  of  Christ,  he  being  as  it  were,  the  Chariots  of 
Israel  and  the  hors-men  thereof.  .  .  .  He  would  often 
will  the  church  to  observe  solemn  days  of  prayer  and 
humiliation,  and  was  much  delighted  in  such  work  ;  but 
now  he  is  gone  from  the  Society  of  Mourners  to  a  com- 
pany of  Harpers  harping  with  their  Harps,  singing  the  song 
of  Moses  and  the  Lamb :  He  had  gon  in  and  out 
before  this  people,  and  bin  a  tender  nurse  or  father  to 
them  for  severall  years  past.  In  wearinesse  and  painful- 
nesse,  in  frequent  watchings  for  them  through  many  straits 
and  temptations  that  befell  him,  and  was  willing  to  spend 
and  be  spent  for  them.  But  lo !  now  he  is  gon,  he  is 
gon." 

By  this  time,  only  two  of  John  Doddridge's  children 
were  living.  These  were  his  sons,  Daniel  and  Philip. 
Philip  was  a  solicitor,  and  held,  for  many  years,  the  post 
of  Steward  to  the  House  of  Russell,  under  William,  the 
fifth  Earl,  and  first  Duke  of  Bedford.  Some  of  his 
brown-leaved  books,  in  their  old  black  leathern  dresses, 
have  been  kept  together  until  now.  They  include  curious 
editions  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  and  certain 
English  and  French  works,  now  rare  or  forgotten.  If  it 
be  true  that  a  man's  mind  is  known  by  the  company  it 
keeps,  we  may,  upon  the  whole,  fairly  infer  irom  the  relics 
of  his  library,  that  he  was  a  genial  gentleman,  well  versed 
in  "the  humanities,"  and  posted  up  in  the  knowledge  of 
his  times. 


THE  FAMILY  RECORDS. 


II 


Daniel  was  evidently  not  the  genius  of  the  family. 
John  Doddridge  Humphreys  says  that  "  he  received  a 
mercantile  education,  and  made  some  property  in  Lon- 
don." "  He  was  an  oilman,"  Job  Orton  insists  on  saying, 
and  this  phrase  is  much  the  best.  Perhaps  he  was  com- 
forted by  recollecting  the  deliverance  of  Judge  Dod- 
dridge :  "  For  a  gentleman,  of  whatsoever  estate  he 
be,  though  he  go  to  plough,  and  though  he  have  nothing 
in  his  purse,  yet  he  is  a  gentleman." 

For  many  years,  all  the  way  over  in  the  Austrian 
Empire — no  person  would  have  dreamt  it — events  were 
growing,  one  issue  of  which  was,  Daniel's  introduction 
to  a  good  wife.  Frederick,  the  Protestant  Elector  Pala- 
tine, who  had  married  the  daughter  of  our  King  James 
the  First,  had  been  tempted  to  accept  the  crown  of 
Bohemia.  This  gave  great  delight  to  the  Protestants, 
but  brought  down  upon  himself  the  angry  power  of  Pope 
Gregory  the  Fifteenth  and  the  Emperor  Ferdinand.  It 
ended  in  his  own  ruin,  and  that  of  his  co-religionists. 
The  preachers  were  at  once  driven  out  of  the  country, 
for  the  cry  was  — "Turn  out  the  pipers,  and  you  stop  the 
dance."  In  1626,  just  at  the  agony  of  the  crisis,  one  of 
these  poor  pipers,  a  certain  Lutheran  student,  named 
John  Bauman,  was  forced  to  disguise  himself  as  a  pea- 
sant, and  take  flight  for  England.  On  his  way,  he  spent 
some  time  at  Saxe  Gotha,  and  other  places.  On  his 
arrival,  having  good  certificates  from  his  university  and 
introductions  from  German  scholars,  he  succeeded  in 
establishing  a  school  at  Kingston-on-Thames.  Here  he 
married;  and  here,  in  1668,  he  died,  leaving  one 
daughter  of  very  tender  age,  who  eventually  became 
Mistress  Daniel  Doddridge. 

Sir  Charles  Reed  has  an  old  drawing  of  the  house  in 
London  in  which  this  couple  lived,  but  we  are  uncertain 
as  to  its  exact  whereabouts.  Here,  on  June  the  26th, 
1702,  a  child  was  born.  It  was  a  small,  red,  name- 
less concretion  of  humanity,  and  seemed  at  first  to 
be  scarcely  worth  thinking  about,  for  not  the  sign  of  a 
soul  lightened  in  the  pinched,  puckered  little  face ;  but 


THE  FAMILY  RECORDS. 


after  a  while,  a  servant  noticing  a  sigh,  took  pains  with 
the  slight,  rudimentary  thing,  and  by  that  at  length 
fostered  it  into  life.  The  infant,  who  in  a  few  days  after 
received  the  name  of  Philip,  was  the  twentieth  child  of 
his  parents,  but  only  one  of  them,  and  that  one  a  girl 
named  Elizabeth,  had  survived. 

"The  sons  of  God  are  born,  not  of  '  bloods,'"  1  that  is, 
not  of  particular  races.  But  though  their  earthly  pedi- 
gree have  nothing  to  do  with  their  divine  life,  or  their 
heavenly  inheritance,  it  is  a  great  natural  advantage  to 
come  of  a  good  stock,  and  a  true  help  to  education  to 
have  inspiring  family  memories.  On  this  account  it  is 
hoped  that  an  attempt  to  recover  the  lost  story  of 
Doddridge's  Family  Tree  will  not  be  without  interest. 


1  Oi  ovk  1%  cujiariav.    John  i.  13. 


ir. 


EARLY  DAYS. 

"  Apart  she  joins  his  little  hands  in  prayer, 
Telling  of  Him  who  sees  in  secret  there  : 
And  now  the  volume  on  her  knee  has  caught 
His  wandering  eye  ;  now,  many  a  written  thought 
Never  to  die,  with  many  a  lisping  sweet, 
His  moving,  murmuring  lips  endeavour  to  repeat. 
Released,  he  chases  the  bright  butterfly  ; 
Oh,  he  would  follow — follow  through  the  sky  ! 
Climbs  the  gaunt  mastiff  slumbering  in  his  chain 
And  chicles  and  buffets,  clinging  to  the  mane  ; 
Then  runs,  and  kneeling  by  the  fountain  side, 
Sends  his  brave  ship  in  triumph  down  the  tide, 
A  dangerous  voyage  ;  or,  if  now  he  can, 
If  now  he  wears  the  habit  of  a  man, 
Flings  off  the  coat,  so  much  his  pride  and  pleasure, 
And,  like  a  miser  digging  for  his  treasure, 
His  tiny  spade  in  his  own  garden  plies, 
And  in  green  letters  sees  his  name  arise  I" 

Samuel  Rogers. 

A CHILD'S  life  generally  opens  into  a  scene  of 
pleasant  wonders.  One  of  the  first  wonders 
that  the  child  Philip  Doddridge  saw  was  new  St.  Paul's, 
then  in  its  spick  and  span  whiteness.  While  he  was 
watching  the  workmen  on  the  dome  beginning  to 
build  the  lantern,  Sir  Christopher  Wren  was  doing  the 
like  as  he  stood  on  the  leads  of  his  house  at  Camber- 
well,  looking  through  his  telescope.  While  the  little  one 
was  glancing  up  the  street,  bannered  with  signs  all 
swinging  in  the  wind,  Addison  was  writing  :  "Our  streets 
are  filled  with  Blue  Boars,  Black  Swans,  and  Red  Lyons, 


14 


EARLY  DAYS. 


not  to  mention  Flying  Pigs,  and  Hogs  in  Armour,  with 
other  Creations  more  extraordinary  than  any  in  Africa." 
He  always  kept  a  happy  recollection  of  this  old  city,  so 
unlike  the  London  we  know,  and  said  not  long  before 
he  died,  "Oh,  London!  dear  city  of  my  youth!"  Two 
memorials  of  this  time  may  still  be  seen.  One  is  a  pic- 
ture of  himself  as  a  child  playing  with  a  dog ;  the  other 
is  of  his  sister,  representing  her  as  a  graceful  little  lady 
carrying  a  basket  of  flowers. 

In  the  common  room  of  the  family,  the  fireplace  was 
lined  with  Dutch  tiles,  which  set  forth  the  chief  events  of 
Scripture  story.  In  some  old  house  you  may  have  seen 
a  duplicate  of  this  Pictorial  Bible  with  its  glistering  blue 
and  white  illuminations,  to  wit :  The  apple  tree  with  a 
serpent  in  it ;  Noah  looking  out  from  the  window  of  an 
ark  smaller  than  himself ;  Eli  falling  back  from  the  top  of 
a  five-barred  gate;  a  very  great  Jonah  coming  out  of  a 
very  little  whale ;  Peter  sailing  over  the  Sea  of  Galilee  in 
a  Dutch  three-decker ;  a  Prodigal  Son  in  a  periwig ;  and 
so  on.  But  the  child  was  not  old  enough  to  be  critical ; 
these  tiles  were  doubtless  full  of  wisdom  and  of  wonder 
to  him,  and  were  glorious  with  suggestions  out  of  which 
his  mind  made  its  own  pictures  and  lighted  its  own 
poetry.  Before  he  could  read,  his  mother  used  to  teach 
him  delightful  lessons  out  of  this  book,  and  these  never 
faded.  Thus  he  took  his  first  degree,  and  here  began 
the  biblical  scholarship  that  found  final  development  in 
the  "  Family  Expositor." 

Sometimes  she  would  hold  out  to  him  a  certain 
strange-looking  book  in  two  volumes,  bound  in  black, 
stamped  leather,  plated  with  silver,  and  with  a  quaint 
inscrutable-looking  title  page.  It  was  a  copy  of  Doctor 
Martin  Luther's  Bible,  dated  "Strassburg,  mdxxvi." 

She  would  often  tell  the  story  of  this  book,  which 
seemed  to  him  to  be  all  the  newer  for  the  much  telling. 
When  his  grandfather  was  driven  out  of  his  Bohemian 
home  on  account  of  his  faith,  the  property  he  took  with 
him  consisted  of  a  hundred  gold  pieces  and  this  volume, 
which  he  valued  above  all  the  gold  in  the  world  After 


/ 


EARLY  DAYS. 


15 


sleeping  in  a  country  inn  on  one  of  the  first  nights  of  his 
journey,  when  he  set  out  in  the  morning,  the  fugitive  for- 
got to  buckle  on  his  belt,  into  the  seams  of  which  he  had 
stitched  all  his  money.  It  was  not  until  he  had  reached 
the  next  stopping  place,  after  a  weary  tramp  all  day,  that 
he  missed  it ;  he  then  hurried  back,  and  found  that  the 
servant,  not  thinking  that  such  an  old  frayed  band  could 
be  of  any  value,  had  flung  it  into  an  angle  under  the 
staircase,  used  as  a  kind  of  museum  of  worthless  things, 
kept  there  until  they  had  been  duly  studied,  or  had 
crumbled  away  by  the  chemistry  of  nature,  or  were  carted 
off  by  the  dustman.  He  searched  for  his  belt,  found  it, 
and  went  on  his  way  thanking  the  Lord.  The  point  was, 
that,  though  he  once  forgot  his  gold,  he  never  forgot  his 
Bible. 

We  may  say  anticipatively  that,  in  1724,  Doddridge 
wrote  his  own  name  in  the  first  volume,  and  under  it  this 
inscription : 

"These  Bibles,  my  Honoured  Grandfather,  Mr.  John  Bauman, 
brought  with  him  from  Germany,  his  native  Country,  when  he  fled 
on  foot  from  the  Persecution  there  on  account  of  the  Protestant  Re- 
ligion. 

"'For  he  had  Respect  to  the  Recompence  of  Reward'  (Ileb. 
xi.  26). 

"  'The  Law  of  Thy  mouth  is  better  to  me  than  Thousands  of 
Gold  and  Silver'  (I'salm  c.xix.  72). 

"  '  Be  ye  Followers  of  them  who  through  Faith  and  Patience 
inherit  the  Promises'  (Heb.  vi.  12)." 

The  fine,  strong  sensibilities  of  this  delicate  child  were 
very  receptive  of  impressions  from  a  family  legend  like 
this,  and  also  of  a  thousand  tender  touches  of  the  creed 
of  creeds  that  were  sung  or  shone  into  his  heart  by  his 
mother. 

He  received  his  first  lessons  in  "grammaticals  "  at 
home,  with  a  Mr.  Stott  for  his  tutor.  When  about  ten 
years  old,  he  was  sent  away  to  a  school  at  Kingston-on- 
Thames.  We  have  always  been  told  that  it  was  the  Free 
School,  over  which  we  have  also  been  told  that  his 
grandfather  Bauman  had  once  presided,  who  had  by  this 
time  been  succeeded  by  Mr.  Mayo.    This  is  an  error. 


i6 


EARLY  DAYS. 


The  Free  School  was  founded  in  the  days  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.  It  has  no  traditions  of  our  Philip,  and 
recently,  all  its  documents  having  been  searched  through, 
a  complete  list  of  twenty-seven  successive  masters  has 
been  made  out  from  the  year  1566,  until  now,  and  every 
year  has  been  accounted  for,  but  no  trace  has  been  found 
of  Bauman  or  of  Mayo.  The  school  we  are  looking  for 
must  have  been  a  private  one. 

Daniel  Mayo,  M.A.,  was  the  son  of  the  good  old  Vicar 
of  Kingston,  who  had  been  ejected  for  Nonconformity. 
Since  1698,  he  had  himself  been  minister  of  a  Noncon- 
formist congregation  in  the  same  place,  and  also  master 
of  a  school.  Before  that,  he  studied  at  Utrecht  under 
Witsius.  While  there  he  printed  a  Latin  thesis  on 
Miracles,  which  was  much  commended.  Seventeen 
treatises  and  single  sermons  of  his,  once  alive  with  spiritual 
fire,  now  dead  as  fossils,  are  to  be  seen  in  our  old  libraries. 
As  a  preacher,  he  proclaimed  the  Deity  of  Jesus,  and 
gloried  in  the  cross.  In  1714,  when  Matthew  Henry  died, 
exactly  half  the  votes  of  the  church  were  in  favour  of 
electing  him  as  successor,  and  the  result  was  an  amicable 
arrangement  by  which  an  additional  congregation  was 
formed,  which  assembled  in  the  Gravel  Pit  Meeting  with 
Mr.  Mayo  for  the  pastor.  The  family  of  Mr.  Henry, 
regarding  him  as  a  true  and  trusty  friend,  secured  his 
help  in  finishing  the  Commentary,  which  he  gave  by 
writing  the  articles  on  2  Corinthians  and  1  Thessalo- 
nians.  Our  small  alumnus  gained  great  good  from  Mr. 
Mayo's  teaching,  to  which,  when  he  became  a  man,  he 
made  graceful  reference  in  a  printed  sermon  on  the  Educa- 
tion of  Children.1 

Pliilly,  for  that  was  his  name  for  many  years,  had  always 
been  used  to  spend  his  holidays  at  his  uncle's.  At  such 
times  he  was  kindly  noticed  by  the  Duchess  of  Bedford, 
when  he  was  hailed  as  a  sprightly  playfellow  by  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Russell  family,  and  some  of  them  became  his 
fast  friends  for  life. 


"  Works,"  vol.  ii.  p.  56. 


EARLY  DAYS. 


17 


While  he  was  at  this  first  school,  he  learned  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  sorrow.  First,  his  uncle  died  ;  then,  his 
mother,  the  gentle  Monica,  to  whom  all  the  churches 
owe  a  large  debt  of  gratitude;  and  last,  on  the  17th  of 
July,  1  715,  he  was  called  to  part  with  his  father.  Forty 
years  after,  it  was  found  that  he  had  written  in  his  secret 
journal  when  this  blow  fell,  "God  is  an  immortal  Father, 
my  soul  rejoiceth  in  Him ;  He  hath  hitherto  helped  me 
and  provided  for  me ;  may  it  be  my  study  to  approve 
myself  a  more  affectionate,  grateful,  and  dutiful  child." 

A  prosperous  looking  gentleman,  named  Downes,  now 
assumed  the  office  of  guardian  to  the  orphan,  no  one  asking 
him.  In  that  capacity  he  removed  the  lad  to  a  school  at 
St.  Albans,  where  he  himself  lived.  The  principal  was 
Doctor  Nathaniel  Wood,  the  Nonconformist  minister  of 
a  small  congregation  in  a  village  close  by.  He  appears 
to  have  been  a  thorough  and  careful  scholar;  a  true 
"  magister ;  "  and  in  his  humble  sphere  was  proud  as 
Colet  once  was  in  his  own  august  one  of  the  school- 
master's high  vocation.  By  him,  the  word  "school"  cer- 
tainly would  not,  in  the  softer  sense  of  the  meaning, 
have  been  interpreted  °x°^'i,  "leisure  ;  "  and  if  the  end  of 
school  discipline  is  to  show  the  way  to  work — that  is,  if 
one  object  is  to  strengthen  the  memory,  to  furnish  the 
mind  with  rules,  dates,  names,  strings  of  vocables,  and 
formulas  of  mathematics  ;  if  another  is  to  compel  boys 
to  a  distinct  mastery  of  that  which  they  do  not  wish  to 
learn ;  and  if  the  highest  of  all  is  to  educate  Christian 
conscience  and  love — then  there  was  no  reason  to  regret 
the  change  of  schools.  Philly  began  to  acquire  the  habit, 
which  so  distinguished  him  in  after  life,  of  working  me- 
thodically, exactly,  and  instantly,  at  whatever  he  aimed 
to  do  ;  and  of  finding,  as  he  said,  "  that  the  best  recrea- 
tion is  in  the  change  from  one  work  to  another." 

The  light-hearted,  popular  lad  was  already  known  to 
be  a  Christian.  Although  he  never  could  tell  when  he 
first  lighted  on  the  gospel  secret,  he  might  have  said,  like 
his  contemporary,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Rowe  :  "  My  intant 
hands  were  early  lifted  up  to  Thee,  and  I  soon  learned 
3 


IS 


EARLY  DAYS. 


to  acknowledge  the  God  of  my  fathers."  The  firm  will 
and  wise  love  of  his  pastor,  Mr.  Clark,  greatly  helped  his 
spiritual  life  at  this  stage,  and  one  consequence  was  that 
he  became  openly  decided,  and  joined  the  Church  on  the 
i st  of  January,  17 18. 

This  solemn  happiness  was  suddenly  followed  by  a 
calamity.  Mr.  Dovvnes,  his  self-constituted  guardian,  was 
full  of  kind  feeling ;  he  was  impulsive,  effusive,  persuasive, 
and  was  marked  by  lively  alacrity  of  benevolence  :  but  for 
all  that,  he  was  never  considered  in  the  city  to  be  "a  safe 
man."  All  at  once  there  was  a  collapse  in  his  affairs ;  he  lost 
the  property  of  his  wards  as  well  as  his  own  in  some  un- 
successful venture,  and  was  thrown  into  prison  for  debt. 
To  get  him  out  of  prison,  Philly  sold  his  own  family 
plate.  Then,  in  better  spirits  than  ever,  the  emancipated 
man  busied  himself  in  various  speculations,  one  of  which, 
called  "  his  water-works,"  was  a  plan  for  superseding  the 
New  Company  by  supplying  London  with  water  from  St. 
Albans.  The  only  effect  of  this  enthusiasm  that  we  now 
know  was  the  total  wreck  of  what  little  had  been  left  of 
the  Doddridge  inheritance. 

Philip  Doddridge  at  once  left  school  and  went  to 
see  his  sister,  lately  married  to  the  Reverend  Mr.  John 
Nettleton,  who  seems  then  to  have  been  keeping  school 
at  a  house  "near  the  Windmill  "  on  Hampstead  Heath. 
From  her  and  from  his  new  brother  he  had  a  warm  wel- 
come, and  it  was  agreed  that  he  should  stay  at  their  house 
until  it  became  clear  what  was  to  be  done.  His  own 
heart  was  set  on  becoming  a  minister.  The  Duchess  of 
Bedford  hearing  of  this,  and  also  of  the  change  in  his 
worldly  circumstances,  made  him  the  generous  offer  that 
if  he  would  become  a  Conformist,  she  would  support  the 
cost  of  his  education  at  either  of  the  Universities,  and 
that,  if  she  should  live  until  he  had  taken  orders,  would 
provide  for  him  in  the  Church.  It  would  have  been 
glorious  to  go  to  Exeter  College,  sacred  to  the  memory  of 
his  fathers,  and  doubtless  there  was  a  moment  of  waver- 
ing. But  of  course,  as  his  Nonconformity  grew  out  of 
his  interpretation  of  God's  revealed  will,  and  not  out  of 


EARLY  DAYS. 


19 


his  own  natural  preferences,  there  was  no  room  for  a 
question,  and  he  was  obliged  gratefully  but  sadly  to  de- 
cline. 

He  then  waited  on  Dr.  Calamy,  then  regarded  as  "  a 
kind  of  Chief  Rabbi  among  the  Dissenters,"  who  gave 
him  no  encouragement,  but  advised  him  to  turn  his 
thoughts  to  something  else.  Doddridge  writes  :  "  It  was 
with  great  concern  that  I  received  such  advice,  but  I 
desire  to  follow  Providence,  and  not  force  it.  The  Lord 
give  me  grace  to  glorify  Him  in  whatever  station  He  sets 
me  !  Then,  here  am  I,  let  Him  do  what  seemeth  good  in 
His  sight."  This  advice  by  Dr.  Calamy  has  sometimes 
been  cited  as  a  remarkable  illustration  of  the  mistakes  in 
judgment  that  are  sometimes  made  by  the  wisest  men; 
but  it  really  seems  likely  that  the  doctor,  seeing  the  Non- 
conformist interest  to  be  in  a  decline,  and  that  its  next 
ministers  would  have  to  plough  in  a  rough  and  thorny 
field,  thought  that  the  slender  youth  before  him  was  not 
strong  enough  for  such  a  life.  About  three  weeks  after  this 
discouragement,  Mr.  Humphreys  informs  us  that  "the 
celebrated  conveyancer  of  the  day,  Mr.  Horseman,  who 
had  long  been  intimate  with  the  family,  interested  him- 
self warmly  in  his  favour,  and  deeming  the  talents  of  his 
young  friend  likely  to  lead  to  eminence  at  the  bar,  intro- 
duced him  to  a  counsellor  named  Eyre,  who  made  him 
a  handsome  proposal."  The  case  was  full  of  perplexity. 
It  seemed  impossible  to  put  his  heart  into  any  vocation 
but  that  of  the  Christian  ministry.  He  was  in  a  mist  of 
trouble  ;  trouble  made  him  pray  more  earnestly,  and  one 
day,  when  he  was  in  prayer,  the  news-man's  knock  startled 
him,  and  there  was  a  letter  from  his  old  pastor,  the  sub- 
stance of  which  was,  that  if  he  continued  in  his  strong 
resolution  to  be  a  minister,  he  was  heartily  welcome  to 
come  and  live  in  his  manse  at  St.  Albans,  where  he 
would  do  his  best  to  help  him  until  he  had  an  introduc- 
tion to  some  academy.  "  This,"  said  he,  "  I  looked  upon 
almost  as  an  answer  from  heaven  ;  and  while  I  live  shall 
adore  so  seasonable  an  interposition  of  Divine  Providence. 
I  have  sought  God's  direction  in  this  matter,  and  I  hope 


20 


EARLY  DAYS. 


I  have  had  it.  My  only  view  in  my  choice  hath  been  that 
of  more  extensive  service  ;  and  I  beg  God  to  make  me 
an  instrument  of  doing  much  good  in  the  world."  He 
continued  for  several  months  with  his  kind  friend,  Mr. 
Clark,  who  in  October,  17 19,  procured  his  admission  to 
the  academy  at  Kibworth  Harcourt,  and  was  responsible 
for  the  cost  of  his  studies. 


III. 


KIBU'ORTH  HARCOURT. 

"A  husbandman  within  Thy  Church  by  grace, 
I  am,  O  Lord  !  anil  labour  at  the  plough  ; 
My  hand  holds  fast,  ne  will  I  turn  my  (ace 
From  following  Thee,  although  the  soile  be  rough." 

Henry  Lok,  Gentleman  U593"I597)- 

PERHAPS  we  sometimes  speak  of  "Nonconformists" 
and  "  Dissenters  "  without  recollecting  what  these 
words  exactly  mean  ;  and  this  is  the  fitting  place  for  a 
brief  explanation.  The  term  "  Nonconformist "  has  a 
different  tint  of  meaning  from  the  term  "  Dissenter."  It 
does  not  of  necessity  imply  objection  to  the  State  establish- 
ment of  a  Church,  but  only  to  the  form  or  forms  of  the 
Church  actually  established.  It  was  not  a  distinctive 
term  for  "Dissenters"  before  the  year  1662,  when, 
ousted  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  two  thousand  Non- 
conformist clergymen  left  the  Church  of  England 
and  joined  the  ranks  of  Dissent.  Dr.  Winter  Hamilton 
has  justly  said,  "We  deem  it  a  most  unhappy  mis- 
conception of  history  that  Independents  and  Baptists 
should  have  recorded  that  day  as  their  memorable 
day."  It  was  not  their  trial.  It  was  not,  at  any  rate, 
the  assertion  of  anti-state-churchism  that  was  made  then, 
lor  those  who  joined  in  the  illustrious  exodus  were 
not  anti  state-churchmen.  They  would  have  gladly  stayed 
in  the  State  Church  if  they  could.  They  only  went  out  of 
it  because  they  held  a  theology  which  they  felt  to  be  incon- 
sistent with  the  sacerdotal  and  sacramental  theories  of  the 


22 


KIB WORTH  HARCOURT. 


Prayer  Book,  theories  which  had  been  brought  out  by 
the  revisers  with  sharp  distinctness  and  logical  order  on 
purpose  to  keep  men  of  their  faith  outside  the  ecclesias- 
tical pale.  So  it  came  to  pass  that  two  thousand  clerical 
Nonconformists,  holding  the  principle  of  establishments, 
joined  the  ancient  body  of  Dissenters,  who  did  not  hold 
it.  One  result  of  this  fusion  was  that  the  temper  of  both 
parties  was  softened.  Another  result  was,  that  the  Non- 
conformists, forced  to  be  Dissenters  in  practice,  generally 
and  gradually  became  so  in  principle.  Another  result 
was,  that  Nonconformists  being  both  as  to  status  and 
cultus  the  most  influential  of  the  separatists,  their  name, 
at  first  only  sectional,  commonly  became  the  descriptive 
name  of  the  body  to  which  they  had  become  united.  As 
time  went  on  other  changes  were  brought  about.  Presby- 
terians and  Congregationalists,  under  which  second  head 
we  may  include  Baptists,  were  not  parted  by  hard  and  fast 
lines  ;  there  was  very  little  practical  unlikeness  between 
their  methods  of  order  and  worship,  and  there  was  a 
growing  disposition  to  merge  smaller  distinctions  in  the 
comprehensive  title  of  Nonconformist  or  of  Protestant 
Dissenter. 

Persons  of  this  religious  persuasion,  being  excluded 
from  the  Universities,  depended  for  the  higher  education 
on  what  they  called  the  Academies.  At  first,  these  were 
by  no  means  for  ministers  only,  but  for  all  those  who 
would,  if  permitted  by  law,  have  gone  to  Oxford  or  Cam- 
bridge. How  many  such  academies  were  in  existence  at 
the  time  of  which  we  are  writing  is  doubtful,  but  a  few  years 
before,  twenty  had  been  counted.  They  were  undertaken 
on  the  responsibility  of  the  tutors,  without  any  guarantee 
of  help  or  share  of  directive  authority  on  the  part  of  the 
public.  Simple  and  unostentatious  as  these  institutions 
were,  the  education  they  secured  was  often  of  the  very 
best.  In  proof  of  this  we  may  read  the  high  praise  given 
to  them  by  Nelson  in  the  life  of  Bishop  Bull ; 1  also,  the 
well-known  letter  of  Dr.  Seeker,  afterwards  Archbishop  of 


"Life,"p  /. 


KID WORTH  HARCOURT. 


23 


Canterbury,  describing  the  curriculum  of  one  of  them  at 
which  he  studied  in  his  youth ;  also,  the  evil  importance 
ascribed  to  them  by  those  who  tried  to  get  them  put 
down  by  law.  In  a  letter  addressed  to  "  The  Grand 
Committee  of  Parliament  for  Religion,"  it  was  asserted 
that  "they  endangered  the  National  Universities," — - 
reference  was  made  to  the  numbers  of  the  nobility  and 
gentry  who  would  have  sought  their  education  at  one  or 
other  of  the  great  seats  of  learning — "  had  they  not  been 
intercepted  by  these  sucking  academies,"  and  the  writer 
adds  that  "  there  must  have  been  some  thousands  in  this 
way  educated."  1 

The  head  of  the  Kibworth  academy  was  the  Reverend 
Mr.  John  Jennings,  an  Independent  minister  of  rare 
attainments  and  delicate  culture.  What  he  was  in  the 
supreme  qualifications  for  his  post  we  may  infer  from  a 
book  of  his,  entitled  "  Two  Discourses :  the  First  of 
Preaching  Christ,  the  Second  of  Particular  and  Experi- 
mental Preaching  ;  with  a  Preface  by  the  Revd.  Mr.  Isaac 
Watts,  1723."  At  the  time  of  its  first  issue  it  was  recom- 
mended by  two  bishops  at  visitation  services ;  and  it  was 
translated  into  German  by  Dr.  Frank,  Divinity  Professor 
at  Halle.  A  volume  containing  outlines  of  his  Academic 
Lectures,  written  by  Doddridge  in  Latin,  and  with  almost 
microscopic  delicacy  of  hand,  is  preserved  in  the  New 
College  Library,  London.  An  interesting  account  of  the 
course  and  method  of  teaching  has  been  published  in  his 
"  Correspondence."  2 

Memoranda  written  at  this  time,  still  surviving,  show 
that,  like  a  true  student,  it  was  his  habit  to  work  with 
patience,  yet  with  perpetual  eagerness,  and  with  a  kind  of 
methodical  enthusiasm,  reminding  us  as  we  read  that  time 
is  elastic,  and  that  none  know  how  much  they  can  put 
into  it  until  they  try. 

Several  persons  who  were  influential  in  various  ways 
used  in  later  years  to  speak  with  proud  affection  of  what 
he  was  when  they  were  his  class-mates  at  Kibworth.  One 

"  A  Letter  from  a  Country  Divine  "  (Samuel  Wesley),  1 703. 
*' Correspondence,"  vol.  ii.  p.  462. 


2\  KID  WORTH  HARCOURT. 

of  these  was  Sir  John  Cope,  the  conspicuous  yet  the  in- 
glorious ;  another  was  John  Mason,  M.A.,  author  of  a 
book  on  Self-knowledge,  that  was  once  a  power  in  the 
world  ;  another  was  Doctor  Obadiah  Hughes  ;  another 
was  the  Baptist,  James  Burroughs,  minister  of  a  church  in 
Paul's  Alley,  London,  "  furnished,"  it  was  said,  "with  a 
considerable  stock  of  learning  and  eloquence,  as  well  as 
piety,"1  but  he  died  as  early  as  May  16,  1728,  in  the 
twenty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  A  volume  of  his  sermons 
was  published,  and  on  the  fly-leaf  of  a  copy  in  the  New  Col- 
lege is  a  long  and  loving  inscription  in  the  handwriting 
of  Doddridge. 

Early  in  1722,  the  academy  was  removed  to  Hinckley 
in  the  same  county.  Almost  immediately  after  this,  a 
new  meeting-house  was  commenced  in  this  place,  but 
while  the  congregation  still  met  under  the  old  rafters, 
Doddridge  preached  his  first  sermon,  taking  for  the  text: 
"  If  any  man  love  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  let  him  be 
Anathema  Maranatha."  Two  persons  ascribed  their 
conversion  to  its  instrumentality.  A  man  in  his  novitiate 
was  never  allowed  to  preach  beyond  the  academy  chapel 
until  his  fitnesses  were  finally  tested  in  an  examination  by 
certain  local  ministers;  who,  if  they  approved,  signed  a 
certificate  of  recommendation,  after  which  he  was  con- 
sidered eligible  to  be  invited  to  a  vacant  pastorate.  In 
the  case  of  Doddridge  all  this  took  place  at  a  meeting 
of  ministers  held  at  Leicester,  January  5,  1723.  On 
July  8th,  following,  good  Mr.  Jennings  died.  The 
smallpox,  that  terror  of  our  ancestors,  struck  him  down 
in  his  prime,  after  three  days'  illness.  Doddridge,  his 
favourite  pupil,  had  only  in  the  month  before  succeeded 
to  his  old  charge  over  the  little  church  at  Kibworth. 
The  people  had  invited  him  on  the  expressed  under- 
standing that  he  should  be  free  to  accept  a  call  to  any 
larger  sphere.  There  must  have  been  an  ordination 
service,  but  all  written  references  to  it,  including  his 
"confession    of  faith,"    have   mysteriously  vanished. 


*  "Correspondence,"  vol.  i.  p.  381. 


RIBWORT H  HARCOURT. 


25 


Practically,  this  ministerial  engagement  was  little  more 
than  a  lectureship,  and  was  preferred  to  others  because  it 
allowed  him  opportunity  to  continue  his  studies. 

Kibworth,  dozing  round  its  old  church  in  the  serene 
hush  of  a  June  day,  was  a  soothing  sight.  In  and  out, 
all  up  the  long,  straggling  street,  you  saw — here,  a  thatched 
cottage  ;  there,  standing  back  in  a  flagged  court,  an  old 
house  with  a  rookery  behind  it ;  further  on,  stacks  of 
twisted  chimneys  looked  over  the  trees  ;  then  a  row  of 
irregular  wigwams,  and  all  the  sunny  scene  was  so  still 
that  you  might  have  almost  thought  the  buzz  of  a  blue- 
bottle would  startle  the  town.  It  was  not  at  all  a  place 
looking  like  the  chosen  sphere  of  a  man  born  to  make  a 
noise  in  the  world.  On  the  site  of  the  present  Crown 
Inn  there  once  stood  the  parsonage  of  Mr.  Jennings,  and 
the  meeting-house  in  which  Doddridge  opened  his  minis- 
try is  still  in  part  standing  as  one  of  the  buildings  in  the 
yard.  "  The  ten  commandments  "  were  lettered  on  the 
wall  behind  the  pulpit ;  the  Lord's  Prayer  used  to  be 
repeated,  and  the  clerk,  on  all  proper  occasions,  used  to 
say  "amen  ;"  for  all  which,  critics  were  inclined  to  indict 
the  minister  "for  ritualistic  practices."  About  forty  per- 
sons made  the  morning  congregation ;  never  more  than 
a  hundred  and  fifty  came  in  the  evening.  Each  one 
slowly  stumbled  in,  sleeking  down  his  hair,  tempting  the 
light-hearted  youth  to  write  :  "  My  congregation  is  the 
most  impolite  I  ever  knew,  consisting  of  shepherds,  far- 
mers, graziers,  and  their  subalterns.-'  The  income 
amounted  to  thirty-five  pounds  a  year;  "  but,"  he  said, 
"as  provisions  are  cheap  I  might  manage  to  live  upon 
ten."  As  to  marriage  he  was  of  opinion  that  it  was  not 
to  be  thought  of  in  a  hurry,  for,  as  he  justly  remarked, 
even  an  annual  stipend  of  forty  pounds  "  is  abundantly 
little  to  carry  double." 

"  The  prophet's  chamber  "  at  this  time  was  at  Strctton, 
two  or  three  miles  away,  in  a  hall  that  had  once  been 
lived  in  by  an  old  Nonconformist  family  called  "the 
Strettons  of  Stretton,"  but  which,  much  altered,  had  come 
to  be  used  as  a  farm-house.    The  focus  of  life  had  been 


26 


KIBWORTH  HARCOURT. 


shifted  from  the  statelier  rooms  to  the  great  house  place. 
We  can  almost  see  this,  with  its  long  settle,  its  press  of 
carved  black  oak,  with  a  date  on  it ;  a  broad  sheet  of 
"  Holy  Mr.  Dod's  sayings  "  pasted  on  the  wall,  and  over 
the  mantelpiece  a  matchlock  that  had  seen  Naseby  fight, 
also  a  crossbow  that  had  been  in  the  wars  of  the  Roses. 
The  handsome  stone  staircase  is  still  there  ;  so  are  the 
fish-ponds,  brook,  and  large  garden  thus  described  by 
Doddridge  in  July  15,  1723,  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Clark : — 
"  You  know  I  love  a  country  life,  and  here  we  have  it 
in  perfection.  We  have  a  mighty  pleasant  garden  and 
orchard,  and  a  fine  arbour  under  some  tall,  shady  limes, 
that  form  a  kind  of  lofty  dome,  of  which,  as  a  native  of 
a  great  city,  you  may  perhaps  catch  a  glimmering  idea  if 
I  name  the  cupola  of  St.  Paul's.  And  then,  on  the  other 
side  of  the  house,  there  is  a  large  space  which  we  call  a 
wilderness,  and  which  I  fancy  would  please  you  ex- 
tremely. The  ground  is  a  dainty  green  sward  ;  a  brook 
runs  sparkling  through  the  middle,  and  there  are  two 
large  fish-ponds  at  one  end ;  both  the  ponds  and  the  brook 
are  surrounded  with  willows,  and  there  are  several  shady 
walks  under  the  trees,  besides  little  knots  of  young  willows 
interspersed  at  convenient  distances.  This  is  the  nursery 
of  our  lambs  and  calves,  with  whom  I  have  the  honour 
to  be  intimately  acquainted."  The  friendliness  of  the 
pigs  and  of  the  sleek  cart  horses,  of  the  speckled  hens 
pecking  about,  and  of  the  pigeons  fluttering  down,  so 
nattered  him,  and  he  gleaned  so  much  agricultural  know- 
ledge in  other  ways,  that  he  was  fast  getting  qualified,  so 
he  boasted,  to  write  a  work  in  continuation  of  "  Flavel's 
Husbandry  Spiritualised."  As  to  his  health,  in  one  letter 
he  speaks  of  himself  as  "  skin  and  bone  in  another,  he 
says  that  he  "is  getting  purely  well,  and  already  weighs 
part  of  a  ton,"  from  which  we  may  infer  that  he  had  been 
but  poorly,  and  that  country  air  agreed  with  him.  He 
turned  this  life  of  peaceful  sameness  to  the  best  account 
as  a  student,  rising  at  five  in  the  morning,  as  was  his  en- 
deavour all  through  life,  and  when  no  higher  duty  claimed 
him  working  twelve  hours  a  day.    In  this  way,  besides 


KIBWORTH  HARCOURT. 


27 


gaining  a  mastery  of  the  languages  and  sciences  wanted 
as  instruments  of  biblical  interpretation,  he  became  deep 
in  the  Fathers  of  the  first  four  centuries  ;  and  tried  to  read 
everything  that  had  been  written  on  Church  history  and  on 
the  history  of  doctrines  and  controversies.  The  classic  his- 
torians he  read  with  a  child's  eagerness ;  the  old  Greek 
poets  were  to  him  fountains  of  beauty  and  delight ;  and  he 
became  acquainted  with  the  philosophers  and  orators  of 
antiquity.  A  knowledge  of  the  German  language  had 
not  yet  come  to  be  thought  essential  to  complete  scholar- 
ship, and  he  never  acquired  it.  In  a  letter  written  only  a 
few  years  before  his  death  we  find  him  saying,  "  I  passed 
the  morning  most  agreeably  in  the  company  of  four 
German  divines.  We  co?iversed  in  Latin  very  intelligibly, 
different  as  was  the  accent."  1  Evidently  he  was  never 
able  to  converse  in  German,  but  he  already  recreated  him- 
self in  French  dramatic  and  other  literature.  All  through 
these  obscure  years  he  was  unconsciously  piling  upon  the 
altar  materials  afterwards  to  be  divinely  kindled — large  fuel 
for  large  flame. 

After  a  while  he  went  to  lodge  at  Burton  Overy,  then 
went  back  to  Stretton,  and  in  October,  1725,  made  his 
home  at  Harborough,  he  having  agreed  to  unite  his  own 
little  pastorate  with  the  larger  one  of  Mr.  Some  at  that 
place,  to  whom  he  became  assistant  minister,  the  two 
ministers  dividing  their  services  between  the  two  con- 
gregations. 

When  he  was  living  at  Stretton  he  said,  "  I  have  not 
so  much  as  a  tea-table  in  my  whole  diocese,  although 
eight  miles  in  extent.  ...  I  am  confident  that  there 
never  was  one  drop  of  tea  consumed  in  this  house  since 
it  was  built,  unless  it  was  camomile."  This  was  a  playful 
over-statement ;  there  were  several  centres  of  pleasant  so- 
ciety within  reach,  at  which  he  would  have  been  more  than 
welcome.  One  of  these  was  Maidwell,  the  seat  of  Lady 
Russell.  This  lady  was  the  widow  of  Lord  James  Rus- 
sell, sixth  son  of  John,  Duke  of  Bedford.   She  afterwards 


'  Wilson  MSS. 


28 


RIBWORT H  HARCOURT. 


married  Sir  Henry  Houghton,  of  Houghton  Tower,  Lan- 
cashire. Her  daughter,  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Seawen,  of  Car- 
shalton,  was  often  with  her.  Both  ladies  were  members 
of  a  dissenting  church  in  London,  but  were  in  the  habit 
of  spending  most  of  the  year  in  the  country,  when  they 
were  great  friends  to  the  ministers.  The  elder  lady  had 
known  the  young  Kibworth  pastor  nearly  all  his  life,  and, 
when  he  waited  upon  her  just  after  coming  into  Leices- 
tershire, "gave  him  to  understand  that  he  must  be  no 
stranger."  He  would  sometimes  ride  along  the  old  green 
lanes  and  bridle  paths  as  far  as  Maidwell,  finding  on  the 
way  many  illustrations  of  the  maxim  in  ethics,  that  "  the 
softest  road  is  not  always  the  best."  As  his  steed  walked 
circumspectly  back — he  on  the  top  of  it — the  deep  holes 
were  sometimes  only  doubtfully  revealed  by  the  moon- 
light ;  and  there  is  a  letter  to  her  ladyship  from  her  "very 
humble  servant  and  chaplain,"  to  tell  her  that  he  got 
safe  home  at  about  four  o'clock,  and  that  the  horse,  "a 
sedate  and  obsequious"  beast,  had  behaved  himself  with 
"singular  gravity  and  discretion."  Some  of  his  letters 
to  this  lady  on  serious  subjects  are  deeply  interesting, 
and  all  are  in  a  style  that  implies  confidential  friend- 
ship. 

The  house  of  his  old  tutor  was  also  at  all  times  like 
home  to  him.  Mrs.  Jennings  was  grandchild  of  the  Earl 
of  Anglesea,  Lord  Privy  Seal  under  Charles  the  Second. 
Her  father  was  Sir  Francis  Wingate,  of  Harlington  Grange, 
near  Bedford.  He  was  the  magistrate  who  committed 
John  Bunyan  to  Bedford  jail — the  only  remarkable  thing 
he  ever  did  in  his  life.  After  his  death  it  mysteriously 
came  to  pass  that  two  of  his  three  portionless  daughters 
(served  him  right)  married  Independent  ministers — one 
being  this  Mr.  Jennings,  the  other  Mr.  Norris,  of  Welford 
— and  Mistress  Rachel,  who  died  unmarried,  became  a 
member  of  the  Independent  Church  at  Northampton. 
There  was,  as  there  ought  to  have  been  in  this  home, 
an  atmosphere  of  education  and  refinement.  Of  Mrs. 
Jennings  he  said,  "  I  think  myself  exceedingly  happy  in 
such  a  friend.    Her  daily  conversation  is  one  of  the  most 


KIDWORTH  HARCOURT. 


2Q 


delightful  entertainments  of  my  life.  In  her  I  see  a  most 
amiable  and  instructive  example  of  all  the  branches  of 
the  Christian  temper  which  can  be  visible  to  the  eyes 
of  our  fellow  creatures,  and  combined  with  these  are 
uncommon  sprightliness  of  wit,  solidity  of  judgment,  and 
delicacy  of  taste."  1 

Some  of  the  old  county  families,  who,  in  1662,  had 
cast  in  their  lot  with  the  ejected  ministers,  still  had 
representatives  keeping  to  the  conventicle.  Several  of 
these  were  within  his  radius.  Of  course,  the  young 
people  would  meet  occasionally  and  he  with  them,  for 
social  recreation,  when  there  would  be  talk  about  new 
books  and  live  questions.  At  certain  dates,  there  would 
be  something  to  say  about  Mr.  Thomson's  "magnificent 
piece  called  '  Winter,'  "  just  out  ;  or  about  Mr.  Young's 
"  Paraphrase  on  the  Book  of  Job,"  not  much  liked ;  or 
about  a  new  poem  by  "  the  ingenious  Mr.  Dyer."  There 
would  be  a  cheerful  remark  made  about  "an  answer  by  one 
John  Giles  or  Gill,"  2  to  some  incautious  statements  pub- 
lished on  the  baptismal  controversy  by  their  good  neigh- 
bour, Mr.  Morris,  of  Rothwell ;  not  from  any  great 
interest  in  the  polemics,  but  from  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
"an  Antinomian  "  in  difficulties.  "Antinomian"  and 
"High  Calvinist "  were  names  they  were  apt  to  apply 
vaguely  to  any  earnest  Evangelical  Christian,  and  there 
was  too  great  a  readiness  to  say  smart  things  or  to 
believe  droll  stories  at  the  expense  of  "  the  Orthodox." 
The  phrases  just  quoted  and  the  inferences  expressed 
are  drawn  from  printed  and  unprinted  letters.  The 
present  writer  has  also  formed  from  other  materials 
some  idea  of  what  the  spirit  of  these  "  evenings  at 
home"  used  to  be.  In  early  life,  he  has  seen  taken 
out  now  and  then  from  broken  old  lavender  and  rose- 
leaves,  papers  and  note-books,  certain  of  which  were 
written  by  Doddridge's  young  friends  belonging  to  this 
circle,  though  some  were  of  a  little  later  date.  Some 

1  " Correspondence,"  vol.  ii.  p.  190. 

•  This  was  the  first  work  written  by  Dr.  John  Gill. 


30 


KIBWORTH  HARCOURT. 


were  in  Rich's  shorthand  ; 1  some  were  receipts,  medical 
or  culinary,  but  most  of  them  were  large  extracts,  in 
different  hands,  and  not  in  faultless  spelling,  from  Mr. 
Hughes'  "  Siege  of  Damascus,"  Mr.  Pomfret's  "  Choice," 
"  Mr.  Green  on  the  Spleen,"  and  the  like.  Some  were 
original  compositions,  clean  gone  from  memory  now, 
except  in  fragments.  There  was  "  a  song"  attempted  by 
a  muse,  "the  meanest  of  the  tuneful  throng,"  about  "the 
sequestered  bower,  where  fair  Melodia  spends  the  thought- 
ful hour."  Young  Englishmen  were  called  "  British 
Swains,"  and  the  Midland  counties  were  "Tripontian 
plains."  All  was  in  the  style  of  the  day  when  poets  would 
call  "  a  shoe "  "  the  shining  leather  that  encased  the 
limb  ;"  when  for  "  coffee  "  they  would  say,  "  the  fragrant 
juice  of  Mocha's  berry  brown  ;"  and  when  "  saponaceous  " 
was  poetical  for  "  soapy."  Such  poetry  was  in  keeping 
with  the  curious  formality  then  ruling  all  social  inter- 
course. To  behave  with  good  manners  seemed  to  be 
looked  upon  as  a  kind  of  performance.  With  step  grace- 
ful as  a  wave,  the  young  women  rose,  sank,  and  pointed 
their  satin  toes  most  formally ;  the  young  men  advanced 
and  retreated,  swaying  to  the  ground;  and  even  their 
letters  seem  to  have  been  written  in  the  spirit  of  the 
same  fashion.  As  part  of  the  same  fashion,  they  used 
to  drop  their  proper  names  and  assume  classical  ones : 
Doddridge  was  "  Hortensius ; "  Mr.  Hughes,  "  Atticus;  " 
Mr.  Joseph  Nutt,  the  Hinckley  doctor,  was  "Nuceus;" 
and  there  are  other  samples.  Among  the  ladies  we  find 
such  names  as  Clio,  Camilla,  Theodosia  (Jenny  Jennings), 
and  Philomela  (Betty  Clark),  "a  lady  of  incomparable 
sagacity." 

John  Bunyan,  whose  name  some  in  those  meetings 
had  such  good  reason  to  remember  with  reverence, 
"  admired  the  wisdom  of  God  in  making  him  shy  of  the 
sisterhood,"  boasting  that  "  it  was  a  rare  thing  for  him  to 
carry  it  pleasant  towards  a  woman."    "  The  common 

1  "  Pen's  Dexterity  ;  or,  the  Readiest  Way  to  the  Art  of  Short 
Writing."  By  Jeremiah  Rich.  Trice  6d.  Sold  by  John  Marshall 
at  the  Bible,  in  Gracechurch-street,  1699. 


KIBWORTH  HARCOURT. 


31 


salutation  of  women,"  saith  he,  "  I  abhor,  their  company 
alone  I  cannot  away  with."  Philip  Doddridge  never 
could  say  the  same.  He  was  too  much  in  the  society 
of  these  mischievous  creatures  with  the  romantic  names. 
Although  the  young  objects  of  affection  sometimes  took 
too  much  snuff,  and  everything  that  wire  and  whalebone, 
starch  and  powder,  could  do  was  done  to  lessen  the  danger 
of  their  spells,  they  seem  somehow  to  have  had  a  myste- 
rious power  of  captivation  over  him.  He  wrote  to  some 
of  them  words  of  very  glowing  sentiment,  but  perhaps  he 
did  not  mean  anything.  No  doubt  his  open  and  lively 
nature  betrayed  him  into  imprudencies.  There  was  one 
Clarinda,  whose  earthly  name  was  Kitty  Freeman,  said  by 
him  to  have  been  "a  notorious  man  slayer," for  whom  he 
got  to  feel  a  foolish  worship.  It  was  of  no  use  giving 
advice.  When  his  sister  wrote  to  caution  him,  he  said, 
"  Did  you  ever  know  me  to  marry  foolishly  in  all  your 
life  ?  "  However,  after  playing  with  it  off  and  on,  Clarinda 
tossed  the  poor  mouse  away. 

We  would  not  take  for  our  model  "  Sombrius,  who 
looks  upon  a  sudden  fit  of  laughter  as  a  breach  of  his 
baptismal  vow."  1  We  know  that  a  man  may  be  devout 
without  always  speaking  in  a  certain  conventional  dialect 
supposed  to  be  devotional ;  and,  with  Dr.  John  Brown, 
we  nauseate  "  the  religiosity  which  is  at  once  as  like  and 
unlike  the  real  thing,  as  hemlock  is  to  parsley;"  but 
for  all  that,  we  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  Dod- 
dridge was  not  yet  a  spiritual  hero.  His  mind  was 
getting  frivolized  by  the  air  in  which  it  lived,  and  the 
salt  of  grace  seemed  to  be  losing  its  savour.  When  we 
look  first  at  him  with  his  merry  nonsense,  yet  with  his 
unhappy  captivations ;  then  read  a  page  of  his  journal, 
with  its  stern  rules  and  its  histories  of  sharp,  agonizing 
introspection,  we  may  be  reminded  of  what  was  said  about 
a  great  Italian,  "  that  whoever  considered  his  levity  and  li is 
gravity  might  think  that  there  were  two  distinct  persons 
in  him."    But  though  as  yet  he  had  no  apostolic  passion, 


"  Spectator." 


33 


KIB WORTH  HARCOURT. 


and  no  "noble  rage"  for  winning  souls,  there  was  always 
earnest  purity  of  motive,  and  "a  strong  desire  to  "  make 
full  proof  of  his  ministry.  Let  us  read  the  evidence  of 
the  high  estimate  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  church,  as 
shown  in  the  invitations  to  various  important  stations  of 
service,  received  by  him  while  in  his  little  village  pas- 
torate. 

In  April,  1723,  just  when  his  mind  was  balancing  as  to 
the  question  of  settlement  at  Kibworth,  he  was  urgently 
requested  to  become  assistant  minister  to  Mr.  Warren, 
the  Presbyterian  minister  at  Coventry,  where  he  would 
have  had  a  congregation  of  twelve  hundred  persons. 

In  August  the  same  year,  he  was  invited  by  about  a 
thousand  Independents  and  Baptists  to  settle  at  Pershore 
in  Worcestershire.  Preserved  in  the  Doddridge  MSS.  is 
a  charming  letter  supporting  this  request  by  one  who 
writes:  "The  love  I  bear  to  the  good  people  here,  with 
whom  I  have  walked  in  the  fellowship  of  the  gospel  twenty- 
six  years,  constrains  me  earnestly  to  desire  their  comfortable 
settlement ;  and  being  the  widow  of  their  honoured  pas- 
tor, perhaps  my  testimony  on  their  behalf  may  be  a  little 
regarded.  I  can  assure  you  that  dear  Mr.  Thomas  had 
as  comfortable  a  life  amongst  them  for  near  twenty  years 
while  he  was,  for  the  sake  of  Christ,  their  servant,  I  be- 
lieve, as  ever  minister  had  amongst  a  people  ;  and  when 
he  was  on  his  death-bed,  speaking  of  his  ministry,  he  called 
it  his  pleasant  work  amongst  his  pleasant  people.  .  .  . 
Blessed  be  God,  the  peace  of  this  church  is  still  continued, 
notwithstanding  their  being  so  long  unsettled  ;  and  though 
there  is  some  difference  in  the  judgment  of  some  as  to 
baptism,  yet  it  causes  none  in  their  affection.  .  .  .  The 
Lord  grant  that  you  may  be  an  instrument  in  His  hand 
to  revive  His  work  here,  and  to  be  a  gatherer  of  many 
souls  to  Christ  !  " 

In  November  of  the  same  year,  he  was  urgently  in- 
treated  to  succeed  Mr.  Foxon  in  presiding  over  the  Inde- 
pendent Church  at  Haberdashers'  Hall,  where  since  1650 
the  ministers  had  nearly  all  been  remarkable  for  their 
sanctified  power  and  scholarship. 


KIBWORTH  HARCOURT. 


3J 


In  February,  1724,  he  had  a  requisition  from  Coventry, 
signed  by  many  leading  men  of  the  town,  including  "the 
mayor  and  several  of  the  aldermen,"  inviting  him  to  be- 
come the  minister  of  a  new  congregation  in  a  new  build- 
ing. Here  his  stipend  would  have  been  nearly  six  times 
larger  than  the  subscription  at  Kibworth. 

In  November,  1728,  he  was  invited  to  become  assistant 
to  the  Reverend  Mr.  Bateson,  of  the  Castle  Gate  Indepen- 
dent Church,  Nottingham.  The  minute  book  of  this 
church,  a  rare  and  precious  relic,  is  a  noble  folio,  in 
massive  morocco  binding,  dating  from  the  time  of  Charles 
the  Second,  and  on  its  pages  are  entered  in  clear  order 
all  the  particulars  of  the  church  history  from  its  formation 
in  about  1655,  until  1875.  1  ne  following  entry  in  rela- 
tion to  our  present  subject  occurs  in  its  right  place  : — 

"  Mr.  Bateson  being  often  under  disorder  and  indis- 
position as  to  his  state  of  health,  it  was  judged  needful 
for  to  provide  him  an  assistant.  In  order  thereunto  a 
day  of  prayer  was  kept,  Nov.  20,  1728,  to  ask  counsel 
and  direction  of  God  about  giving  Mr.  Phil.  Doderidge 
(a  call  to  assist  Mr.  Bateson),  on  whom  the  eyes  and 
hearts  of  the  whole  congregation  seemed  to  be  fixed. 

"At  the  call  and  desire  of  the  congregation,  he,  the  said 
Mr.  Doderidge,  did  come  and  preach  amongst  us  with 
general  approbation,  and  gave  encouragement  that  he 
would  come  to  us." 

After  this  there  is  the  record  of  a  report,  which  of 
course  proved  to  be  quite  unfounded,  that  he  had  at  the 
same  time  been  endeavouring  to  get  a  settlement  at  the 
other  dissenting  church  at  Nottingham.  Then  we  have 
this  further  entry:  "January,  1729.  The  beginning  of 
January  following,  another  day  of  prayer  was  kept  to  seek 
to  God  for  direction.  Mr.  Doderidge  being  disappointed 
of  his  expectation  of  getting  in  at  the  High  Pavement 
Meeting,  and  we  having  had  some  encouragement  to 
think  that  upon  further  application  to  him  we  might 
obtain  him;  in  February,  1729,  the  congregation  was 
called  together  on  this  affaire  and  unanimously  voted  to 
4 


34 


KIBWORTH  HARCOURT. 


give  him  a  second  call,  and  messengers  were  sent  forth- 
with with  a  letter  of  invitation  from  the  church,  which 
was  by  him  received  very  kindly;  in  answer  to  which  he 
told  us  he  would  go  to  London  to  consult  his  friends  there, 
and  upon  his  return  would  come  to  a  determination.  At 
his  retuine  he  came  again  over  to  Nottingham,  and 
preached  with  us,  and  gave  us  all  the  encouragement  we 
could  expect,  .  .  .  but  declined  to  give  a  final  answer  till 
he  had  been  again  to  his  friends  at  Harbrow,  and  Kibboth ; 
and  then  would  send  it  ...  in  a  post  or  two,  which 
accordingly  he  did,  and  therein  was  contained  a  positive 
Denyall  to  our  Repeated  Invitations,  and  his  full  determin- 
ation not  to  come  to  us,  which  was  indeed  very  surprising." 

The  good  scribe  wrote  this  with  much  hot  thought  and 
sore  feeling.  About  a  hundred  years  after,  the  explanation 
came  out  in  the  published  correspondence  of  Doddridge. 
Letters  to  his  friend  Dr.  Clark  about  the  matter — showing 
what  a  maze  of  delicate  perplexities  he  had  been  in  with 
reference  to  these  two  churches,  and  how  he  had  tried  to 
thread  his  way  out  of  them  honourably  and  kindly- — have 
been  copied  out,  and  inserted  over  against  this  ancient 
minute.  While  he  was  on  a  visit  to  the  one  place  there  had 
been  an  offer  secretly  made  to  him  from  the  other,  in 
which  he  had  many  warm  friends;  but  he  writes,  "It is  now 
strongly  suspected  by  some  who  are  my  very  good  friends, 
that  the  overture  from  the  other  congregation  was  made 
with  a  politic  design  of  preventing  my  fixing  with  Mr. 
Bateson,  which  would  probably  have  drawn  off  some  con- 
siderable persons  from  them."  Besides  these,  he  declined 
calls  from  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  from  Bradfield,  from 
Brockfield,  and  other  places. 

The  late  Mr.  Jennings  had  hoped  that  Doddridge 
would  succeed  him  as  the  head  of  the  academy.  Mr. 
Some,  his  fatherly  colleague  in  the  pastorate,  knew  this, 
and  set  his  heart  on  trying  to  bring  together  again  this 
scattered  "  school  of  the  prophets,"  and  then  to  get  him 
placed  over  it.  He  borrowed  from  Mr.  Saunders  of 
Kettering,  a  long  and  elaborate  paper  sent  to  him  by 
Doddridge,  giving  an  account  of  Mr.  Jennings'  scheme 


KIBWORTH  HARCOURT. 


35 


of  academic  education.  This  paper  he  took  up  to  town 
for  Dr.  Watts  to  examine,  at  the  same  time  asking  his 
opinion  as  to  the  most  suitable  tutor.  When  the  Doctor 
returned  it  with  annotations,  his  judgment  as  to  the  tutor- 
ship was  thus  expressed  : — 

"  The  diversity  of  genius,  the  variety  of  studies,  the 
several  intellectual,  moral,  and  pious  accomplishments, 
the  constant  daily  and  hourly  labours  necessary  to  fill 
such  a  post  can  hardly  be  expected  from  any  one  person 
living  ! 

"  Yet  if  there  be  one  person  capable  of  such  a  post, 
perhaps  it  is  the  man  who  has  so  admirably  described 
this  scheme  of  education ;  and  as  he  seems  to  have  sur- 
veyed and  engrossed  the  whole  comprehensive  view  and 
design,  together  with  its  constant  difficulties  and  acci- 
dental embarrassments,  and  yet  supposed  it  to  be  practi- 
cable, I  am  sure  I  can  never  think  of  any  person  more 
likely  to  execute  it  than  himself,  although,  if  an  elder 
person  joined  with  him,  for  the  reputation  of  the  matter 
at  least,  it  would  be  well." 

On  the  ioth  of  April,  1729,  the  dissenting  ministers 
of  the  neighbourhood  met  at  Lutterworth  to  spend  a  day 
in  humiliation  and  prayer  for  the  revival  of  religion.  On 
that  occasion  Mr.  Some  preached  an  admirable  sermon 
on  the  words,  "  Be  watchful,  and  strengthen  the  things 
that  remain,  that  are  ready  to  die  :  for  I  have  not  found 
thy  works  perfect  before  God  "  (Rev.  iii.  2).  In  connec- 
tion with  this  appeal,  he  advised  the  representatives  of 
the  churches  to  attempt  the  revival  of  the  lapsed  academy, 
and  to  place  it  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Doddridge.  Those 
who,  thanks  to  our  friend  Mr.  Humphreys,  only  know 
what  he  was  at  this  time  from  his  youthful  letters,  maybe 
surprised  to  find  that  he,  above  all  others,  should  have 
been  thought  of  as  such  a  rex  atque  sacerJos,  still  more 
surprised  that  this  appointment  was  sanctioned  with 
earnest  unanimity  by  his  brother  ministers;  but  such  was 
undoubtedly  the  case,  and  the  fact  must  be  regarded  as  a 
high  testimony  to  his  worth. 


3*3 


KIBWORTH  HARCOURT. 


At  Midsummer,  in  obedience  to  the  wish  thus  recorded, 
he  set  up  his  academy  at  Harborough.  Mrs.  Jennings, 
with  her  kind  motherliness,  her  notable  faculty  of  manage- 
ment, and  her  remarkable  gift  of  utterance,  came  to  take 
charge  of  the  key-basket.  The  waggon  brought  her 
furniture  and  her  family.  Students  arrived,  more  were 
coming,  and  everything  seemed  full  of  promise,  when 
in  a  few  months,  to  the  surprise  of  everybody,  he  had  to 
leave  Harborough  for  Northampton. 


IV. 


SETTLEMENT  AT  NORTHAMPTON. 

"  Oh  the  wonderfull  goodnesse  of  the  Lord  to  a  poor  unworthy 
People ;  though  he  cast  them  down,  yet  he  hath  not  cast  them  away  ; 
Though  he  hath  sorely  Rebuk'd  them,  yet  he  hath  not  Destroy'd 
them  ;  Though  he  hath  written  Bitter  things  against  them,  yet  he 
hath  not  written  a  Lo-ammi  vpon  them  ;  Though  he  hath  put  out  a 
Burning,  shining  Light,  yet  he  hath  not  Remov'd  the  Candlestick. 
.  .  .  He  hath  return'd  again  to  a  poor  Desolate  Congregation,  & 
after  some  time  provided  another  shining  Light  to  be  set  vp  in  this 
Candlestick.  As  may  further  be  recorded  in  its  place.  Admired  be 
free  grace." — The  Axminster  Ecci.esiastica. 

THE  Independent  Church  at  Northampton  had 
quietly  grown  into  existence  out  of  peculiar  circum- 
stances. It  has  been  said  that  it  was  founded  by  Mr. 
Jeremiah  Lewis,  the  ejected  vicar  of  St.  Giles,  in  the 
same  town,1  a  clergyman  "  greatly  followed  and  univer- 
sally respected,  except  by  some  Quakers." 2  But  he 
never  preached  after  his  ejection,  and  died  at  the  end  of 
the  same  year.  Probably  the  truth  amounts  to  no  more 
than  this  :  that  when  he  was  deprived  of  his  benefice, 
some  of  his  old  parishioners  used  to  meet  him  after  the 
pattern  of  the  conventicle  spoken  of  in  Holy  Writ:  "Then 

1  There  was  a  Mr.  Jeremiah  Lewis,  vicar  of  All  Saints,  North- 
ampton, in  1618.  A  sermon  of  his,  preached  in  that  year,  is  to  be 
found  in  the  British  Museum  Library,  press  mark,  3!8?- — -  The 
title  is  "  The  Doctrine  of  Thank fulnesse."  The  language  in  the 
Preface  shows  that  he  had  not  been  recently  settled.  Was  this  the 
father  of  the  vicar  mentioned  above  ? 

2  Old  quotation  made  in  a  pamphlet  on  "The  Parish  Registers  ot 
Northampton,"  by  the  Rev.  H.  C.  Elliot,  curate  of  St.  Giles,  1862. 


38  SETTLEMENT  AT  NORTHAMPTON. 


they  that  feared  the  Lord  spake  often  one  to  another : 
and  the  Lord  hearkened,  and  heard  it,  and  a  book  of 
remembrance  was  written  before  him  for  them  that 
feared  the  Lord,  and  that  thought  upon  his  name." 
After  his  death  this  informal  meeting  of  friends  increased 
into  a  congregation,  and,  without  much  thought  about 
church  order,  this  became  practically  an  Independent 
church.  The  first  recognised  minister  was  Mr.  Samuel 
Blower,  Fellow  of  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  who  had 
been  ejected  from  the  living  of  Woodstock.  After  his 
departure  in  1694,  Mr.  Thomas  Shepherd,  M.A.,  formerly 
a  clergyman  in  Buckinghamshire,  was  elected  to  succeed 
him.  He  remained  but  a  short  time,  and  was  succeeded 
by  Mr.  Hunt,  son  of  the  ejected  rector  of  Sutton,  in 
Cambridgeshire.  In  1709,  on  his  removal  to  Newport 
Pagnell,  Mr.  Tingey  became  the  minister.  Each  of  these 
ministers  was  a  man  of  great  grace  and  educated  power, 
but  the  most  remarkable  man  in  the  succession  was 
Thomas  Shepherd,  who  was  the  writer  of  several  works 
worthy  of  remembrance,  in  one  of  which,  entitled  "  Peni- 
tential Cries,"  is  a  hymn  so  exquisite  in  its  beautiful 
spirituality,  and  which  so  fitly  introduces  a  new  era  in  the 
life  of  Doddridge,  that  it  shall  here  be  given.  The 
subject  is  "  Communion  with  God." 

"Alas,  my  God,  that  we  should  be 
Such  strangers  to  each  other  I 
Oh  that  as  friends  we  might  agree, 
And  walk  and  talk  together  ! 

Thou  knowest  my  soul  does  dearly  love 

The  place  of  Thine  abode  : 
No  music  drops  so  sweet  a  sound, 

As  these  two  words — '  My  God.' 

May  I  taste  that  communion,  Lord, 

Thy  people  have  with  Thee  1 
Thy  Spirit  daily  talks  with  them, 

Oh  let  it  talk  with  me  ! 

When  wilt  Thou  come  unto  me,  Lord? 

Oh  come,  my  Lord,  most  dear  ! 
Come  near,  come  nearer,  nearer  still, 

I'm  well  when  Thou  art  near. 


SETTLEMENT  AT  NORTHAMPTON. 


59 


When  wilt  Thou  come  unto  me,  Lord  ? 

For  till  Thou  dost  appear, 
I  count  each  moment  for  a  day, 

Each  minute  for  a  year. 

There's  no  such  thing  as  pleasure  here, 

For  Jesus  is  my  all  : 
As  Thou  dost  shine  or  disappear, 

My  pleasures  rise  or  fall. 

Come,  spread  Thy  savour  through  my  frame, 

No  sweetness  is  so  sweet ; 
Till  I  get  up  to  sing  Thy  name 

Where  all  Thy  singers  meet." 

Though  the  singer  had  been  gone  for  twenty  years,  the 
influence  of  the  life  that  sang  to  the  Lord  this  noble  song 
seemed  still  to  linger  and  breathe  like  an  atmosphere  in 
the  church  at  Northampton. 

Mr.  Doddridge  appears  to  have  taken  turn  with  the 
neighbouring  ministers  in  preaching  to  supply  the 
vacancy  caused  by  the  removal  of  Mr.  Tingey  to  Lon- 
don. The  consequence  was  a  letter,  dated  September  28, 
1729,  conveying  an  application  from  the  church  for 
a  month's  visit.  This  appears  to  have  been  declined. 
Then  there  were  repeated  appeals  to  him,  in  which  all 
joined,  asking  him  to  become  their  minister.  They  would 
do  anything  to  win  him ;  would  secure  a  house  fit  for  his 
academy,  would  largely  furnish  it,  would  handsomely 
reimburse  Mrs.  Jennings  for  any  consequent  loss  ;  and 
visits  were  paid  to  ministers  "  far  and  near  "  to  secure 
their  sanction.  Mr.  Some,  however,  was  so  set  against 
the  movement  that  he  first  got  from  Doddridge  a  pro- 
mise to  spend  four  years  more  at  Harborough,  if  required  ; 
and  next  rode  to  Northampton  for  a  conference  with  the 
people,  in  the  hope  of  getting  them  to  waive  their  appli- 
cation. But  the  good  old  man,  when  he  knew  the  whole 
case,  took  their  side,  and  wrote  to  Doddridge :  "  The 
hearts  of  the  people  are  moved  altogether  as  the  trees  of 
a  wood  when  bent  by  the  wind.  .  .  .  The  mention  of 
your  name  difluseih  life  and  spirit  through  the  whole 
body.  ...  I  find  myself  in  the  utmost  perplexity,  and 
know  not  what  to  say  or  do.  ...  I  apprehend  that  you 


40  SETTLEMENT  AT  NORTHAMPTON. 


will  wonder  at  what  I  write,  and  think  I  am  like  Saul 
amongst  the  propliets,  and  that  the  same  spirit  which  is 
in  the  people  begins  to  seize  me  also."  His  mind  was  in 
a  balancing  state.  Yet,  upon  the  whole,  it  seemed  right 
to  stay  at  Harborough,  and  right  to  visit  his  friends  at 
Northampton  just  once  more  to  say  so  in  the  gentlest 
way  possible.  With  this  view  he  went  to  them  on  the 
first  Sunday  in  November,  and  preached  from  the  words, 
"  And  when  he  would  not  be  persuaded,  they  ceased, 
saying,  The  will  of  the  Lord  be  done."  After  the  service, 
when  he  had  reached  his  lodging,1  and  was  on  the  way  to 
his  room,  his  thoughts  were  still  "tumbled  up  and  down." 
He  was  sorry  to  say  "  No,"  yet  felt  convinced  that  he  had 
not  strength  for  such  a  great  charge,  and  therefore  was 
afraid  to  say  "  Yes."  Just  then  the  words  fell  upon  his 
ear,  "As  thy  days,  so  thy  strength  shall  be."  They 
sounded  through  an  open  door  by  which  he  was  passing, 
and  were  the  words  of  a  child  just  then  reading  to  his 
mother.  Yet  he  felt  inclined  to  think  they  were  meant 
by  God  especially  for  him.  When,  after  that,  unexpected 
events  seemed  to  clear  his  way  to  accepting  the  call  to 
Northampton,  he  did  accept  it,  and  notified  his  decision 
in  a  letter  to  the  church,  dated  December  6,  1729. 
Mrs.  Jennings  was  to  have  handsome  compensation,  was 
invited  to  keep  on  in  the  new  establishment  the  post  she 
had  held  in  the  old ;  it  was  proposed  that  the  academy- 
house  should  still  be  the  home  of  her  family,  and  in  all 
things,  as  far  as  she  was  concerned,  Mr.  Doddridge  acted 
with  delicate  honour  and  kindness.  However,  for  reasons 
which  we  are  not  able  clearly  to  make  out,  she  refused 
the  proposal  with  fearful  eloquence.  At  first,  all  his  old 
friends  spoke  about  the  step  he  had  taken  in  terms  of 
bitter  blame.  In  a  few  weeks  the  ministers,  disappointed 
as  they  had  been  by  this  change  of  charge  so  soon  after 
his  academic  settlement  at  Harborough,  all  came  round 
and  joined  in  approval  of  it,  and  their  leaders  took  part 
in  the  solemnities  of  a  recognition  service  held  March  19, 
1729-30. 

1  At  Mr.  Shepherd's,  Gold  Street. 


SETTLEMENT  AT  NORTHAMPTON.  41 


Two  months  after  this  he,  for  a  wise  man,  did  a 
foolish  thing.  That  is,  on  the  31st  day  of  May,  he  made 
an  offer  of  marriage  to  Theodosia,  this  being  the  poetic 
name  for  Jenny  Jennings.  "  He  was  not  so  very  old— 
hardly  thirty — would  she  have  him?"  The  merry  little 
gentlewoman,  then  hardly  sixteen,  rather  thought  she 
would  not.  He  did  not  know,  as  we  do,  that  she  was 
destined  to  be  the  mother  of  good  old  Dr.  Aiken  and 
the  venerable  Mrs.  Barbauld.  The  thought  that  he  had 
grieved  the  family,  the  wish  to  make  up  for  this,  the  old 
fond  friendship  for  them  all,  mistaken  for  the  moment,  in 
this  instance,  for  the  exquisite  sentiment  that  first  flowered 
in  Paradise — all  these  things  together  led  to  the  crisis ; 
but  no  heart  was  broken  and  no  harm  was  done. 

There  is  nothing  more  of  this  kind  to  tell.  His  settle- 
ment at  Northampton  marked  a  new  era  in  the  life  of 
Doddridge.  About  this  time  his  soul  came  of  age.  All 
that  was  especially  exalted  or  memorable  in  his  ministry 
now  began.  He  devoted  himself  to  the  service  of  the 
Saviour  with  such  startled  energy  and  intense  concentra- 
tion, was  such  a  wonderful  and  manifold  worker,  and 
seemed  to  live  so  many  lives  at  a  time,  that  from  this 
point,  instead  of  telling  one  consecutive  story,  we  can 
only  try  to  show  what  he  was  and  what  he  did  at  the 
same  periods  in  different  departments.1 

'  The  accounts  of  the  settlement  at  Northampton,  given  in  long 
passages  from  diaries  and  letters  in  Orion's  "  Life,"  have  been  so 
often  quoted  and  are  of  such  easy  reference,  that  it  would  be  mere' 
book-making  to  repeat  them  here. 


V. 


HIS  ANSWER  TO  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  DAY. 

"  Stones  towards  the  earth  descend  ; 
Rivers  to  the  ocean  roll  ; 
Every  motion  has  some  end — 
What  is  thine,  beloved  soul  ? 

'  Mine  is,  where  my  Saviour  is  ; 

There  with  Him  I  hope  to  dwell; 
Jesu  is  the  central  bliss  ; 

Love  the  force  that  doth  impel.' 

Truly  thou  hast  answer'd  right  : 
Now  may  heaven's  attractive  grace 

Towards  the  source  of  thy  delight 
Speed  along  thy  quickening  pace." 

John  Lyron,  F.R.S.,  1723. 

Ttf  E  question  of  the  day,  considered  as  a  question 
of  theological  science,  was  this  :  "What  think  ye 
of  Christ — whose  son  is  He?"  It  was  not  only  whis- 
pered with  reverence  or  thought  of  with  prayer  in  the 
hush  of  the  holiest  place;  but,  carried  out  of  the  proper 
courts,  was  wrangled  over  in  coffee-houses  and  other 
places  of  popular  resort.  Waterland,  writing  on  it  in 
1723,  says,  "It  was  spread  abroad  among  all  ranks  and 
degrees  of  men,  and  the  Athanasian  Creed  became  the 
subject  of  common  and  ordinary  conversation."  The 
answers  to  it  had  endless  subtleties  of  difference,  but  all 
ranged  under  three  heads.  The  first  was  that  of  the 
Trinitarian,  who  understood  Christ's  famous  title,  "  the 
Son  of  God,"  to  mean,  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word, 
"  God  the  Son."    The  second  was  that  of  the  Arian, 


ANSWER  TO  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  DAY.  43 


whose  distinctive  tenet  is  sufficiently  explained  in  Dr.  J. 
H.  Newman's  description  of  the  doctrine  held  by  the 
ancient  Arians — "  the  doctrine  that  our  Lord,  although 
rightly  called  God,  as  being  the  God  of  the  mediatorial 
system  and  of  the  New  Testament,  is  not  the  God  of  the 
universe — that  He  is  a  Being  separate  from  God,  and, 
although  the  sublimest  of  creatures,  is  a  creature  only  " 
The  third  answer  was  that  of  the  Socinian,  who  declared 
Christ  to  be  only  a  man.  As  the  century  went  on  there 
was  a  growing  tendency  to  adopt  this  last,  or  the  Soci- 
nian hypothesis  ;  and  this,  not  in  the  body  of  Dissenters 
mainly,  but  equally  in  the  Church  of  England,  manifold 
evidence  of  which  may  be  seen  in  the  controversies 
occasioned  by  the  Athanasian  Creed,  and  in  such  letters 
as  those  in  Archdeacon  Blackburne's  papers  preserved 
in  the  Williams  Library.  Doddridge  was  such  a  repre- 
sentative man  that  if  we  would  fairly  estimate  his  lifd  we 
must  take  this  fact  into  account,  and  in  some  degree  trace 
out  the  history  of  the  thought  which  led  to  it.  What, 
then,  was  the  outline  of  this  history? 

One  of  the  first  causes  of  the  power  gained  by  Soci- 
nianism  was  the  habit,  on  the  part  of  the  later  Puritan 
divines,  of  over-definition  when  speaking  about  the  unre- 
vealed  connections  of  gospel  truth.  Archbishop  Usher 
said  as  to  the  creation  of  the  world,  "  The  world  was 
finished  on  the  third  of  September,  on  a  Wednesday." 
With  similar  precise  explanation  and  unhesitating  confi- 
dence would  some  leaders  pronounce  upon  "  the  deep 
tilings  of  God,"  lay  down  the  law  about  the  Trinity,  and 
go  on  arguing  until,  if  they  proved  anything,  they  proved 
the  existence  of  three  Gods.  By  a  natural  reaction  this 
tempted  many  of  the  rising  generation  to  slight  the  im- 
portance of  a  definite  Christian  (kith. 

Another  thing,  occasioning  the  growth  of  that  which 
for  the  sake  of  convenience  we  will  now  call  Unitarianism, 
was  the  denunciatory  spirit  of  its  opponents.  The  ex- 
treme of  this  was  seen  in  1698,  when,  principally  through 
the  zeal  of  the  dissenting  ministers  and  congregations, 
an  Act  was  passed  prohibiting  all  books  containing 


44     ANSWER  TO  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  DAY. 


assaults  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  or  any  other  funda- 
mental article  of  faith.  "Any  person  found  guilty  of 
writing,  printing,  publishing,  or  circulating  such  books, 
or  of  preaching  such  sentiments,  was  condemned  to  lose 
nearly  all  the  privileges  of  citizenship  :  he  could  neither 
sue  nor  be  sued,  and  neither  bequeath  nor  receive  pro- 
perty." It  is  no  wonder  that  those  who  are  the  succes- 
sors of  these  ministers  and  congregations  lineally,  should 
have  ceased  to  be  so  doctrinally.  The  like  temper  of 
intolerance,  though  without  the  arm  of  civil  force  to  help 
it,  was  also  shown  in  certain  memorable  conferences  held 
within  the  Nonconformist  body.  The  churches  at 
Exeter,  alarmed  by  the  spread  of  false  doctrine,  sent  to 
their  brethren  in  London  for  advice  as  to  the  best  way 
to  check  it.  There  was  a  meeting  of  about  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  ministers  at  Salters'  Hall,  on  February 
19,  1 7 18-19,  to  consider  this  message,  when  it  was 
ruled  by  a  majority  of  four  that  each  minister  should 
then  and  there  subscribe  to  a  statement  of  belief  in  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  Those  who  dissented  did  so 
strongly  5  some  of  them  being  persons  whose  loyalty  to 
Christ  was  unquestionable,  but  who,  out  of  that  very 
loyalty,  as  they  thought,  refused  to  take  orders  respecting 
Divine  things  from  any  human  throne,  or  to  submit  to  any 
terms  of  subscription  as  to  their  faith  in  Christ  which 
were  not  prescribed  by  Christ  Himself.  Two  assemblies 
now  met.  There  was  a  long  storm  of  anger.  A  contro- 
versy began,  which  was  so  conducted  that  zeal  for  truth 
was  made  to  look  like  tyranny  over  opinion,  and  faith 
seemed  to  be  at  war  with  love.  Non-subscribers  were 
bitterly  denounced,  and  placed  in  outlawry.  Looking  at 
surfaces,  not  knowing  much  about  the  question  beneath, 
many  of  the  truest  Nonconformist  ladies  and  gentlemen 
took  their  side,  only  meaning  by  this  to  take  the  side  of 
liberty  and  charity  ;  when  these  things  were  talked  over 
in  the  family  circle  it  is  easy  to  see  what  side  the  younger 
people  would  be  likely  to  take,  and  how,  through  all  these 
graceless  violences,  what  is  called  Unitarianism  became  a 
more  pronounced  and  influential  theory. 


ANSWER  TO  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  DAY.  45 


Another  cause  of  this  ascendency  was  the  rise  of  a 
principle,  the  prevalence  of  which,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  got  for  it  the  title  of  "  Saeculum 
Rationalisticum  " — the  age  of  reasonableness.  Very  much 
from  the  influence  of  writings  like  those  of  Locke  and 
Clarke,  it  gradually  became  the  fashion  to  think  that  no 
doctrine  should  be  accepted  as  true  unless  its  reasonable- 
ness could  be  made  clear  by  our  own  independent  re- 
search, or  by  the  exercise  of  a  verifying  faculty  within  us  ; 
and  that,  however  apparently  supported  by  historical 
proof,  no  writings  should  be  held  as  divine  without  such 
internal  credibility.  Let  this  principle  rule  :  insist  that 
internal  evidence,  consisting  in  what  appears  to  us  to  be 
the  internal  reasonableness  of  that  which  claims  credence, 
should  be  looked  at  first,  and  that  this  should  determine 
the  value  of  external  evidence;  then  in  this  world  of 
souls  disordered  by  the  fall,  the  result  will  probably  be 
the  rejection,  one  by  one,  of  all  the  doctrines  of  revela- 
tion, beginning  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 

It  is  likely  that  Unitarianism  made  all  the  more  way 
with  those  who  were  just  forming  their  opinions  through 
fixing  the  stigma  of  irrationality  upon  the  orthodox. 
This  was  a  little  unfair.  For  unbelievers  in  the  Bible  to 
brand  believers  in  it  as  irrati  >nal  would  not  have  been  so 
very  strange  ;  but  in  the  days  we  speak  of,  both  parties 
in  the  controversy  agreed  to  make  the  Bible  their  common 
standard  of  appeal.  Indeed,  there  could  be  no  argu- 
ment about  this  question  with  persons  who  rejected  the 
Bible,  any  more  than  there  could  be  an  argument  about 
a  question  of  arithmetic  with  a  person  who  rejected  the 
multiplication  table.  The  strange  thing  was  that  hetero- 
dox biblicists  called  the  orthodox  biblicists  irrational. 
My  friend  there,  who  owns  a  Creator,  yet  believes  in  the 
development  theory  of  creation,  and  who  thinks  that  the 
Book  of  Genesis  gives  a  poetical  account  of  it,  should  be 
the  last  person  in  the  world  to  call  me  a  lunatic  because 
I  think  that  the  oneness  of  life  at  its  highest  is  not 
modally  the  same  as  the  oneness  of  life  at  its  lowest,  and 
because  I  go  on  to  accept  without  surprise,  as  a  doctrine  of 


46      ANSWER  TO  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  DAY. 

pure  revelation,  the  doctrine  that  what  is  called  the  Trinity 
is  but  the  highest  mode  of  that  oneness.  Beginning  at  a 
point  of  life  so  small  that  no  magnifying  glass  can  show  it, 
as  I  go  up  the  scale  of  being,  I  find  that  the  individual, 
though  still  one,  is  more  and  more  complex  in  the  mode 
of  its  oneness,  until  I  reach  as  far  as  man  ;  then,  in  the 
one  man,  there  is  a  certain  threeness,  called  body,  soul, 
and  spirit  Beyond  this  I  know  nothing  but  what  is  told 
me.  There  is  an  infinity  upwards ;  and  when  from  the 
One  who  dwells  "  in  the  light  which  no  man  can  approach 
unto,  whom  no  man  can  see,"  a  well-authenticated  mes- 
sage comes  telling  me  of  the  "Three  that  bear  record 
in  heaven," — in  this  I  rest  and  make  no  further  inquiry. 
What  can  there  be  irrational  in  this  ?  It  seems  to  me 
that,  although  I  could  not  have  found  out  this  doctrine 
by  myself,  it  is  in  perfect  keeping  with  all  I  knew  before. 
True,  it  is  mysterious,  but  it  would  be  irrational  to  expect 
the  nature  of  God  to  be  otherwise.  If,  as  Professor  Tyndall 
tells  me,  there  are  things  even  in  my  own  nature  that  are 
absolutely  unthinkable — "  the  passage  from  mind  to 
matter,"  for  instance — surely  it  would  be  foolish  to  reject 
a  thing  told  me  by  God  about  God  because  it  is  unthink- 
able !  A  person  who  lived  in  the  age  of  Doddridge,  at 
any  rate  a  Dissenter,  who  thought  in  this  way,  found  that 
his  brethren  who  thought  otherwise  called  themselves  in 
distinction  from  him,  "rational  Dissenters;"  and  that, 
whether  directly  expressed  or  not,  this  was  the  distinction 
always  made.  With  whatever  air  of  candour,  or  grace  of 
courtesy,  any  indefinite  young  man  is  assured  that  con- 
tempt is  felt  for  his  understanding  because  he  still  holds 
certain  tenets  held  by  the  old-fashioned  folks  with  whom 
he  has  been  brought  up,  he  will  try  not  to  hold  them  any 
longer,  and  will  think  it  not  worth  while  to  be  a  martyr 
without  absolute  necessity.  In  the  midst  of  all  these  co- 
incident influences  working  towards  Unitarian  conclu- 
sions, and  with  a  nature  peculiarly  sensible  to  them  all, 
what  was  the  answer  of  Doddridge  to  the  question  of  the 
day  ?  Mr.  Humphreys  assures  us  that  of  the  three 
answers  his  would  probably  have  been  the  intermediate 


ANSWER  TO  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  DAY.  AJ 


one.  From  his  letters,  selected  and  annotated  by  that 
worthy  gentleman,  many  persons  have  been  disposed  to 
accept  that  assurance.1  What  does  Doddridge  himself 
say  ?  To  know  this,  of  course  the  first  thing  is  to  ascer- 
tain what  he  says  in  his  two  declarations  of  faith  given — 
one  when  he  settled  at  Kibworth,  the  other  when  he 
setded  at  Northampton — and  given  for  the  very  purpose 
of  furnishing  information  on  this  and  kindred  particulars. 
It  is  remarkable  that  both  Mr.  Orton  and  Mr.  Humphreys 
are  absolutely  silent  about  these,  and  our  knowledge  of 
them  is  from  other  sources. 

The  Kibworth  declaration,  made  in  1722,  was  found 
and  transcribed  from  Doddridge's  shorthand  in  1874  by 
the  Rev.  Josiah  Bull,  M.A.  Although  it  bears  no  indi- 
cation of  date  or  place  of  use,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
it  was  used  on  the  occasion  stated.  His  only  other  pas- 
toral charge  was  the  one  he  afterwards  accepted  at 
Northampton,  and  the  corresponding  statement  then 
made  was  altogether  different  in  plan  and  style.  From 
the  earlier  one  we  extract  and  publish,  for  the  first  time, 
the  following  outline  of  his  faith  in  the  Trinity  : 

"  Though  the  light  of  nature  and  the  express  declara- 
tions of  Scripture  join  in  assuring  me  that  there  is  but  one 
God,  I  read  in  the  Sacred  Oracles  that  there  are  Three 
that  bear  record  in  heaven — the  Father,  the  Word,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit.  The  Father  is  universally  described  as 
the  object  of  our  worship.  Of  the  Son  it  is  said,  '  Thy 
throne,  O  God,  is  for  ever  and  ever,'  '  Let  all  the  angels 
of  God  worship  him  ;'  and  it  is  appointed,  1  that  all  men 
should  honour  the  Son  even  as  they  honour  the  Father.' 
Those  who  attempt  to  impose  upon  the  Spirit  are  said 
1  to  lie  unto  God ; '  and  yet  our  Lord  has  taught  us  to 
conceive  of  Him  as  distinguished  from  the  Father  and 
Himself,  when  He  teaches  the  disciples  to  baptize  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  I 
cannot,  therefore,  but  conceive  of  them  as  in  some 
respects  distinct  from  each  other  ;  and  yet,  though  there 
1  "  Correspondence,"  vol.  v.  p.  14. 


48       ANSWER  TO  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  DAY. 


are  Three  that  bear  record  in  heaven,  I  am  constrained  to 
believe  that  they  are  but  one  God.  I  must  own  that  this 
appears  to  me  a  great  mystery,  but  thus  the  Word  of  God 
seems  to  me  to  teach  us  of  Himself;  and  in  all  my  con- 
ceptions and  converse  about  it  I  would  keep  as  close  as 
possible  to  the  words  of  Scripture,  being  very  suspicious 
of  any  others  man  can  invent,  lest  they  should  convey 
some  other  idea  than  they  ought,  and  than  the  words  of 
Scripture  support.  God  best  knows  His  own  nature,  and 
I  would  be  thankful  for  what  He  has  told  me  of  it,  con- 
tenting myself  with  it,  nor  going  with  a  further  curiosity 
into  what  He  sees  proper  to  conceal,  or  than  He  hints  in 
general,  without  a  particular  explanation."  1 

The  Northampton  confession,  made  in  1730,  records 
his  return  to  the  same  standard  after  a  certain  wavering, 
which  he  says  was  sometimes  felt  in  the  course  of  his  life 
in  Leicestershire.  In  this,  just  after  he  had  been  speaking 
of  Christ's  human  nature,  he  says  : 

"  I  believe  that  He  is  possessed,  not  only  of  this 
human  and  created  nature  in  which  He  conversed 
amongst  the  children  of  men,  but  that  He  is  also,  in  a 
sense  common  to  no  other,  the  brightness  of  the  Father's 
glory,  and  the  express  image  of  His  Person;  and  so  par- 
takes of  all  Divine  attributes  and  perfections  as  to  be 
really  one  with  the  Father,  and,  Himself,  God  over  all, 
blessed  for  evermore. 

"  I  believe  that  the  sacred  Spirit,  who  is  the  grand 
agent  in  the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  is  a  Divine  Person, 
united  with  the  Father  and  the  Son  in  adorable  and 
incomprehensible  manner  ;  and  thus  I  learn  and  firmly 
believe  the  great  doctrine  of  a  Trinity  of  Persons  in  the 
unity  of  the  Godhead :  an  awful  mystery,  which,  being 
matter  of  pure  revelation,  I  apprehend  I  should  only 
obscure  by  attempting  to  explain  it."  * 

'  MS.  in  possession  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Newth. 

2  Confession  in  Doddridge's  handwriting,  transcribed  by  Mr. 
Taylor  from  the  original  copy  in  possession  of  Mr.  Wilkins,  llamp- 
stead.  It  is  given  in  extettsohy  Dr.  VVaddington  in  "  History,  1700- 
1S00,"  p.  294. 


ANSWER  TO  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  DAY.  49 

Turn  to  the  "Expositor,"  which  is  specially  the  printed 
manifesto  of  his  faith.  We  find  that  in  his  remarks  on 
the  opening  paragraph  of  St.  John's  Gospel,  after  having 
elaborately  refuted  the  Arian  interpretation  of  it,  he  adds, 
"  I  am  deeply  sensible  of  the  sublime  and  mysterious 
nature  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  deity  as  here  declared, 
but  it  would  be  quite  foreign  to  my  purpose  to  enter  into 
a  large  discussion  of  that  great  foundation  of  our  faith. 
...  It  was,  however,  matter  of  conscience  with  me,  on 
the  one  hand,  thus  strongly  to  declare  my  belief  of  it;  and 
on  the  other,  to  leave  it  as  far  as  I  could  in  the  simplicity 
of  scriptural  expressions."  After  a  critical  examination 
of  the  Greek  words  in  Rom.  ix.  5,  "  Of  whom  as  con- 
cerning the  flesh  Christ  came,  who  is  over  all,  God 
blessed  for  ever,"  he  says,  "  I  must  paraphrase  and  im- 
prove this  memorable  text  as  a  proof"  of  Christ's  proper 
deity,  which  I  think  the  opposers  of  that  doctrine  have 
never  been  able,  nor  will  ever  be  able,  to  answer."  On 
the  words  in  Col.  ii.  9,  "In  him  dwellcth  all  the  ful- 
ness of  the  Godhead  bodily,"  he  says,  "  It  is  plain  that 
'the  Godhead'  is  an  anglicism  equivalent  to  Deity. 
I  cannot  think  that  these  wonderful  words  are  intended 
merely  to  signify  that  God  hath  lodged  in  the  hands  of 
Christ  a  fulness  of  gifts  to  be  conferred  upon  men,  as 
if  the  passage  were  merely  parallel  to  Ephes.  iii.  19,  and 
John  i.  16,  17,  as  Mr.  Pierce  explains  it ;  while  Socinus 
sinks  it  yet  lower,  as  if  it  only  referred  to  His  complete 
knowledge  of  the  Divine  will.  I  assuredly  believe  that, 
as  it  contains  an  evident  allusion  to  the  Shekinah  in 
which  God  dwelt,  so  it  ultimately  refers  to  the  adorable 
mystery  of  the  union  of  the  Divine  and  human  natures  in 
the  Person  of  the  glorious  Emmanuel,  w  hich  makes  Him 
such  an  object  of  our  love  and  confidence,  as  the  most 
exalted  creature  with  the  most  glorious  endowments 
could  never  be."  On  1  John  v.  20,  "  This  is  the  true 
God,  and  eternal  life,"  he  says,  "It  is  an  argument  for  the 
Deity  of  Christ,  which  almost  all  those  who  have  wrote 
in  its  defence  have  urged  ;  and  which,  I  think,  none  who 
have  opposed  it  have  so  much  as  appeared  to  answer." 
5 


50      ANSWER  TO  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  DAY. 


Unless  language  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  instrument  for 
the  concealment  of  thought,  the  language  of  Doddridge 
now  quoted  expresses  his  entire  acceptance  of  all  we 
mean  by  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity;  but  unhappily,  when 
he  came  to  discuss  the  subject  in  his  lectures,  he  con- 
sidered himself  bound  to  put  his  thoughts  upon  it  in  the 
scholastic  and  technical  form  into  which  he  had  cast  his 
thoughts  on  other  Christian  doctrines.  He  therefore 
suggested  a  definition  which  we  must  regard  as  utterly 
unsatisfactory.  While  a  man  may  trust  his  very  life  to 
a  certain  fact,  he  may  break  down  in  attempting  to  give 
the  philosophy  of  it.  He  may  live  and  thrive  on  food, 
yet  not  be  able  to  define  its  chemical  constituents.  So 
Doddridge,  as  we  have  seen,  held  the  doctrine  that  is 
now  in  our  thoughts;  but  contrary  to  his  own  wise  dictum 
just  read,  he  tried  to  explain  it,  and  in  Lecture  clxi., 
definition  79,  he  says:  "The  word  '  person  '  commonly 
signifies  one  intelligent,  voluntary  agent,  or  conscious 
being,  and  this  we  choose  to  call  the  philosophical  sense 
of  the  word  ;  but,  in  a  political  sense,  it  may  express  the 
different  relations  supported  by  the  same  philosophical 
person —  i.e.,  the  same  man  may  be  father,  husband, 
son,  etc.,  or  the  same  prince,  King  of  Great  Britain, 
Duke  of  Brunswick,  and  Treasurer  of  the  Empire." 
"  Corollary :  one  philosophical  person  may  sustain  a 
great  number  of  persons  in  the  political,  or,  as  some 
call  it,  the  modal  sense  of  the  word."  Proposition  128  : 
"  God  is  so  united  to  the  derived  nature  of  Christ,  and  does 
so  dwell  in  it,  that,  by  virtue  of  that  union,  Christ  may 
properly  be  called  God  ;  and  such  regards  may  become 
due  to  Him  as  are  not  due  to  any  created  nature,  be  it  in 
itself  ever  so  excellent."  1 

Let  the  wisest  man  try  to  draw  a  circle  round  infinite 
space — try  to  define  the  indefinable,  and  to  make  the 
Infinite  definite ;  let  him  try  to  put  "the  unthinkable" 
into  words  ;  let  him  try  to  explain  the  cause  of  the  eternal 
Cause ;  let  him  take  pen  and  ink,  and  try  to  cypher  out 

1  "Miscellaneous  Works,"  p.  427. 


ANSWER  TO  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  DAY.      5 1 


the  great  problem  of  the  universe,  treating  the  mystery  of 
the  Godhead  as  a  question  of  mathematics — and  he  is 
sure  to  fail.  All  definitions  come  short  of  the  glory  of 
God.  One  is  as  good  as  another,  and,  we  are  almost 
ready  to  say,  one  is  as  bad  as  another.  We  have  no 
biblical  sanction  for  that  offered  by  Doddridge,  nor  for 
any  other;  but  we  know  that,  practically,  all  that  he 
meant  by  it  amounts  to  this,  that  while  he  accepted  in 
good  faith  all  that  the  Bible  has  said — worshipping  the 
Father  as  God,  also  the  Son,  also  the  Holy  Ghost — he, 
like  the  rest  of  us,  held  that  what  are  called  the  Three 
Persons  of  the  Godhead  are  not  Three  Individuals,  and 
that  the  thought  of  the  Three  should  never  confuse  the 
steady  presence  of  the  recollection  that  "the  Lord  our 
God  is  one  Lord." 

Readers  of  his  earlier  letters  who  wish  to  know  his 
true  sentiments  on  the  present  question  must  not  be 
misled  by  his  many  playful  flings  at  a  party  called  "  the 
Orthodox."  There  has  been  a  change  in  the  conventional 
meaning  of  this  word  in  the  course  of  its  history.  At 
that  period  it  had  no  exclusive  reference  to  any  particular 
creed  as  to  the  Person  of  our  Lord,  but  was  the  name 
commonly  given  to  the  good  people  who  thought  they 
had  adopted  such  views  as  Dr.  Grisp  advocated,  the  recent 
re-publication  of  which  had  made  a  great  stir  in  their 
little  world.  They  held  a  certain  fatalism,  meaning  it  for 
Calvinism,  took  alarm  at  the  very  whisper  of  the  phrase 
"good  works,"  and  insisted  that  the  gospel  should  be 
preached  in  such  a  cautious  and  guarded  way  that  no 
improper  persons  would  be  likely  to  be  admitted  into 
heaven  by  mistake.  These  doctrinists  were  such 
"  troublers  of  Israel,"  were  so  condemnatory  of  all  other 
Christians,  and  were  so  hard  and  dogmatic,  that  no  one 
can  wonder  at  the  resentment  they  provoked.  Mr.  Hunt, 
already  mentioned,  in  his  tractate  called  "Infant's  Faith," 
said  :  "  Since  the  providence  of  God  hath  cast  my  lot  at 
Northampton,  it  hath  no  little  concerned  me  to  see  how 
generally  the  country  is  infected,  not  only  with  Anabap- 
tism,  but  also  with  those  many  and  gross  errors  which 


52      ANSWER  TO  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  DAY. 


commonly  that  doctrine  is  an  inlet  into ;  and  especially 
with  that  soul-damning  doctrine  of  Free-will."  This  was 
what  would  be  considered  an  orthodox  speech  A  few 
members  of  the  church  would  still  speak  in  the  same 
style.  Writing  before  he  accepted  the  pastorate,  he  said, 
"  I  have  lately  preached  twice  at  Northampton,  and  have 
the  character  of  a  very  orthodox  divine  ;  but  to  my  great 
mortification  I  hear  from  another  quarter  that  my  sermons 
are  all— Do,  do,  do."  Some  years  later,  writing  from 
Northampton  to  his  w'ife,  then  from  home,  he  said,  "  I 
had  several  orthodox  spies  to  hear  me  this  morning,  and 
they  observed  with  great  amazement  that  I  urged  my 
hearers  to  get  an  interest  in  Christ.  This,  it  seems,  is 
Arminianism."  These,  out  of  many  similar  passages  that 
might  be  cited,  will  help  to  show  that  he  by  the  term 
orthodox  did  not  mean  Trinitarian. 

If  we  would  be  fair  to  him,  we  must  also  reject  the  old 
slander  that  many  of  his  students  became  Arian  or  Uni- 
tarian owing  to  his  influence.  They  were  only  carried 
away  by  a  mighty  tidal  wave  of  opinion,  and  he  was 
grieved  as  he  saw  them  go.  "  I  was  last  night,"  said  he 
on  one  occasion,  "  expounding  the  First  of  John  in  the 
family,  and  insisting  on  the  importance  of  remembering 
and  maintaining  the  Deity  and  satisfaction  of  Christ, 
when  some  of  our  good  preaching  seniors  were  pleased 
to  express  their  contempt  of  what  they  heard  by  laughing 
and  almost  making  mouths.  You  will  probably  guess  at 
the  persons,  yet  they  are  those  whom  some  of  our  wise 
people  would  contrive  to  fix  where  Mr.  Some  and  Mr. 
Norris  were."  1 

No  doubt  there  was  an  impression  on  some  of  his 
contemporaries  who  belonged  to  the  new  school  of  theo- 
logy, that  he  was  more  in  sympathy  with  them  than  he 
cared  to  avow.  This  impression  was  partly  caused  by 
the  dark  sayings  just  now  quoted  from  his  Divinity 
Lectures,  and  which  were  supposed  to  hold  certain 
esoteric  thoughts  at  variance  with  the  common  creed. 

1  Unpublished  letter  quoted  by  Dr.  Stoughton. 


ANSWER  TO  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  DAY.  53 


It  was  partly  caused  by  his  well-known  objection  to  the 
demand  of  subscription  to  human  formularies  of  faith, 
like  the  demand  made  at  the  Salters'  Hall  conference  ; 
which  objection  some  unbelievers  in  the  Deity  of  Jesus 
supposed  in  some  degree  to  spring,  as  their  own  did, 
from  a  doctrinal  root.  It  was  further  deepened  by  the 
knowledge  of  his  unquestionable  candour,  which,  as  all 
the  Unitarian  literature  of  the  last  century  will  show,  was 
understood  to  be  only  another  name  for  Unitarianism. 
Speaking  of  this  fancy  on  the  part  of  these  friends,  he 
says  :  "  Perhaps  three  causes  have  concurred  to  lead 
them  into  that  apprehension.  A  general  conceit  that 
their  notions  are  so  self-evident  that  none  but  an  ex- 
tremely weak  or  ignorant  man  (which  they  pay  me  the 
compliment  of  supposing  that  I  am  not,  though  they 
afterwards  fully  balance  the  account)  can  possibly  be  ofc 
a  different  opinion.  Some  hints  which  I  may  perhaps 
have  dropped  between  the  years  1723  and  1730,  or  there- 
abouts, when  I  was  really  more  inclined  to  some  of  their 
sentiments  than  I  am  now;  and — my  since  hearing  them 
assert  some  of  them  in  a  mixed  company,  when  I  have 
not  been  in  a  humour  to  dispute."  1 

Doddridge,  in  his  early  days,  was  not  always  free  from 
the  chill  that  comes  from  the  near  presence  of  a  spiritual 
iceberg.  He  was  not  naturally  disposed  to  dwell  on  the 
mysteries  of  the  Godhead.  As  a  divine,  he  had  not 
"  completed  his  creed."  He  would  always  speak  to  con- 
troversial opponents  what  he  deemed  to  be  the  truth, 
but  he  was  disposed  to  speak  the  very  pleasantest  truth 
he  could,  and  this  made  him  sometimes  seem  politely 
indecisive.  But  when  we  have  collected  his  many 
scattered  sentences  on  the  subject  in  dispute,  we  have  no 
hesitation  in  saying  that  his  own  faith  answered  to  that 
which  has  been  thus  summed  up  in  the  declaration  of  a 
modern  writer  : — 

"  My  heart  demands  the  Trinity  as  much  as  my  reason. 
I  want  to  be  sure  that  God  cares  for  us,  that  God  is  our 

1  "  Life,"  by  Orton,  p.  155.    Leeds  edit. 


54      ANSWER  TO  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  DAY. 


Father,  that  God  has  interfered,  stooped,  sacrificed  Him- 
self for  us.  I  do  not  want  merely  to  love  Christ—  a 
Christ,  some  creation  or  emanation  of  God's,  whose  will 
and  character,  for  aught  I  know,  may  be  different  from 
God's.  I  want  to  love  and  honour  the  abysmal  God 
Himself,  and  none  other  will  satisfy  me.  No  puzzling 
texts  shall  rob  me  of  this  rest  to  my  heart,  that  Christ  is 
the  exact  counterpart  of  Him  in  whom  we  live  and  move 
and  have  our  being.  I  say  boldly,  if  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  be  not  in  the  Bible  it  ought  to  be,  for  the  whole 
spiritual  naticre  of man  cries  out  for  it."  1 

He  was  strong  in  the  faith  that  cries  at  the  feet  of 
Jesus,  "  My  Lord  and  my  God " — not  the  less  strong 
because  he  expressed  his  opinion  with  spiritual  temper- 
ance and  courtly  gentleness  ;  not  the  less  so  because  he 
would  take  no  part,  on  one  side  or  the  other,  in  the 
wrangle  between  flippant  critics  of  the  great  "  I  Am ; " 
not  the  less  so  because  of  his  joyful  readiness  to  think 
that  some  persons  who  ranked  as  humanitarians  were  so 
in  theory  only;  that  there  was  a  misunderstanding  ot 
terms  ;  that  they  were  trusting  in  the  right  Saviour,  and 
that  in  His  sight  what  they  called  admiration  was  adora- 
tion. It  was  stronger  and  bolder  every  year  he  lived  ; 
and  when  a  deadly  frost  had  fallen  on  the  spirit  of  the 
ministers,  old  and  young,  his  spirit  was  kept  alive,  and 
the  fire  within  him  made  more  glorious,  by  perpetual 
communion  with  God ;  and  if  no  controversialist  on  the 
subject,  as  perhaps  with  such  surroundings  he  ought  to 
have  been,  his  life  was  a  practical  protest  against  the 
Arianism  of  the  day,  and  a  constant  prayer  for  the 
shedding  down  of  a  Divine  unction  on  all  churches. 


*  Charles  Kingsley,  "Letters,  and  Memories  of  his  Life." 


VI. 


MARRIED  LIFE. 

"  They  are  together  in  the  church  of  God,  and  in  the  Supper  of 
the  Lord  ;  they  share  with  one  another  their  grievances,  their  per- 
secutions, and  their  joys  ;  neither  hides  anything  from  the  other  ; 
neither  avoids  the  other  ;  the  sick  are  visited  by  them  with  pleasure, 
and  the  needy  supported  ;  psalms  and  hymns  resound  between  them, 
and  they  mutually  strive  who  shall  best  praise  their  God.  Christ  is 
delighted  to  see  and  hear  things  like  these  ;  He  sends  His  peace  on 
such  as  these  ;  where  two  are,  there  is  He,  and  where  He  is,  evil 
comes  not."— Tertullian,  "Ad  Uxorem"  lib.  xi.  17. 

AT  last  he  really  did  meet  with  the  lady  of  his  dreams, 
and  there  was  a  marriage  made  in  heaven.  When 
visiting  at  Worcester  in  the  summer  of  1730,  he  was  intro- 
duced to  "  Cordelia,"  that  is,  to  Mistress  Mercy  Maris. 
The  fancy  name  was  soon  dropped,  for  there  was  nothing 
so  musical  as  Mercy.  She  was  of  gentle  genealogy,  an 
orphan,  and  twenty-two.  In  describing  her,  Mr.  Hum- 
phreys puts  on  his  spectacles,  and  writes  out  a  careful 
inventory  of  properties,  in  which  we  find  the  following 
items  : — stature,  "  rather  tall ; "  outline,  "  free  and  flow- 
ing;" eyes,  "black;"  hair,  the  same;  complexion, 
"  with  the  ardent  tint,  which  so  often  mantles  in  the 
cheeks  of  a  brunette."  As  to  education,  she  knew  very 
little  about  the  "  ologies ; "  had  read  but  very  little 
"profane  literature  ;"  was  not  always  quite  certain  of  her 
English,  and,  as  we  can  bear  witness,  often  had  to  try 
such  spellings  as  "  pierce  and  peirce,  believe  and  beleive," 
on  the  back  of  an  old  letter,  to  see  which  looked  safest, 
before  beginning  her  answers  to  Mr.  Doddridge.  We 


56 


MARRIED  LIFE. 


have  even  yet  more  interesting  information  than  this. 
"  The  Lord  hath  gifted  and  graced  many  women  above 
men,  especially  in  the  holy  affections."  1  It  was  so  in 
this  instance.  The  two  persons  became  mutually  de- 
voted. They  had  "like  precious  faith;"  were  "heirs 
together  of  the  grace  of  life  ;  "  between  their  spit  its  there 
was  now  a  most  happy  coalescence,  and  one  life  was  a 
blessing  to  the  other  until  the  stroke  fell  that  dissolves 
all  human  ties.  They  were  married  on  the  22nd 
of  December,  from  the  house  of  the  lady's  uncle  and 
guardian,  Ebenezer  Hankin,  Esq.,  Upton-on-Severn. 

The  wedding  being  over,  we  must  be  indulged  in  a  few 
remarks,  prosaic  and  prudential,  which,  perhaps,  ought 
to  have  been  thought  of  before.  The  husband  only  had 
jQ"]o  for  his  income  ;  the  wife  brought  only  ^400  for  the 
capital  of  her  dowry.  It  is  true  that  he  had  certain  per- 
quisites in  addition,  but  they  made  only  a  small  and 
fluctuating  annual  amount.  He  was  to  inherit  certain 
modest  estates,  but  not  yet.  There  were  certain  pay- 
ments from  each  of  the  students,  such  as  ^16  per  annum 
board,  and  £4  for  teaching,2  but  there  could  have  been 
only  a  dim  prospect  of  wealth  from  that  quarter.  "  Tatters 
for  two,"  Douglas  Jerrold  informs  us,  may  easily  be  found, 
but  competency  for  a  married  lady  and  gentleman  is 
quite  another  affair.  The  question  arises,  how  did  the 
young  couple  mean  to  live  ? 

In  studying  the  social  history  of  England  in  the  first 
half  of  the  last  century,  we  are  struck  with  the  smallness 
of  most  clerical  stipends.  It  would  be  easy  to  multiply 
instances.  When  Goldsmith  made  the  vicar  of  Wake- 
field tell  us  that  the  profits  of  his  living  in  his  golden 
days  "  amounted  to  about  thirty-five   pounds  a  year," 

1  Mr.  Timothy  Rogers,  author  of  a  work  on  "  Melancholy,"  1706. 

2  "Ki|  ■pirn's  Register,"  vol.  iv.p.  904.  "  Letter  from  Dr.  Doddridge 
on  the  terms  of  his  Academy  in  1 739."  He  adds  to  the  above, 
"they  wash  their  linen  abroad,  and  find  candles."  They  also  had 
to  pay  one  guinea  for  a  study,  and  another  guinea  for  sheets,  etc.;  in 
the  second  year  they  began  to  pay  an  annual  guinea  to  the  Library, 
and  another  towards  the  apparatus,  these  two  things  being  the  pro- 
perty of  the  public. 


MARRIED  LIFE. 


57 


and  that  he  afterwards  accepted  "a  small  cure  of  fifteen 
pounds  a  year,"  he  only  held  the  mirror  up  to  life,  and 
no  one  thought  it  an  unlikely  story.  Near  Hinckley,  and 
doubtless  well  known  to  Mr.  Jennings,  lived  Mr.  John  Bold, 
curate  of  Stoney  Stanton,  in  every  respect  a  learned 
Christian  gentleman,  who  had  thirty  pounds  a  year  for 
his  curacy,  and  ten  for  being  master  of  a  school,  out  of 
which  pittance  he  always  saved  ten  pounds  for  charity. 
Doddridge,  writing  to  Lady  Russell  in  1727,  said,  "Mr. 
Hardy,  the  celebrated  dissenting  minister  of  Nottingham, 
has  conformed  !  It  is,  indeed,  the  most  considerable 
conquest  the  Establishment  has  made  for  several  years." 
Mr.  Hardy  was  presented  to  Amerley  in  Leicestershire, 
a  living  of  about  thirty  pounds  a  year.  Multitudes  would 
have  regarded  a  living  of  fifty  pounds  as  valuable  church 
preferment.  Swift  assures  us  that  there  were  at  that 
time  ten  Bishoprics  in  England  whose  incomes  did  not 
average  six  hundred  a  year.1 

Most  likely  the  ministers  who  were  outside  the  Estab- 
lishment were  worse  off  than  their  brethren  inside  it.  The 
yearly  salary  of  even  Dr.  Watts  never  rose  to  more  than 
one  hundred  pounds.  Surely  these  good  men  had  need 
of  consolations  like  those  suggested  by  Master  Trapp. 
"Shall  the  great  Housekeeper  of  the  world  water  His 
flowers,  prune  His  plants,  fodder  His  cattle,  and  not  feed 
His  children?  Never  think  it."2  Straitened,  however,  as 
they  sometimes  were,  when  we  understand  the  difference 
between  their  time  and  ours  in  the  value  of  money  and 
the  cost  of  life,  we  find  that  they  were  not  so  poor  as  they 
seemed  to  be.  They  got  much  out  of  little.  "  Our  sub- 
scriptions alone  cannot  amount  to  above  twenty-six 
pounds  a  year,  and  though  a  single  man  may  subsist 
tolerably  well  upon  that,  if  he  manage  with  prudence  and 
frugality,  yet  you  must  be  aware,  sir,  that  he  can  afford  to 
lay  out  but  little  in  books  or  in  the  relief  of  the  poor  of 

1  See  for  an  account  of  the  incomes  of  the  clergy,  Dean  Swift's 
"Considerations  upon  two  Hills  sent  down  from  the  House  of  Lords 
to  the  House  of  Commons  of  Ireland,  1732." 

2  Trapp  on  Matthew  v.  26. 


5S 


MARRIED  LIFE. 


the  congregation."  So  wrote  Doddridge  from  Kibworth 
to  a  friend  in  London,  in  1726.  "  It  should  be  remem- 
bered," a  right  reverend  essayist  reminds  us,  "  that 
luxury  is  a  relative  word ;  that,  since  the  days  of  Berridge 
and  Walker  " — we  might  insert,  still  more  so  in  the  days  of 
Doddridge—  "the  entire  level  of  our  English  way  of  living 
has  been  very  materially  raised  ;  and  that  with  the  increased 
wealth  of  the  whole  nation  the  incomes  of  the  clergy,  both 
from  public  and  private  sources,  have  increased  in  like 
ratio."  1 

By  some  strange  chance,  as  it  seems,  the  housekeeping 
books  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Doddridge  have  been  preserved, 
affording  curious  illustrations  of  what  has  now  been  said. 
In  the  first  year  of  their  married  life,  we  find  entries  like 
these:  " One  quarter's  rental,  £2  10s.;  for  two  bedsteads, 
14s.  ;  easy  chair,  6s."  From  March,  1731,  to  December, 
1732,  they  paid  £16  for  rent  and  taxes;  for  servants' 
wages,  £6  10s.  6d.  ;  and  for  furniture,  £11  5s.  7d. 
Further  on,  Mrs.  Doddridge  spent  in  one  year  for  "  pin 
money,"  the  sum  of  6s.  id.  ;  for  one  quarter's  schooling 
for  her  child,  3s.  6d.  About  the  year  1740  they  had  to 
remove  to  a  large  house  which  has  since  been  divided 
into  four  tenements,  and  for  this  they  paid  £40  rent. 
In  1742  they  kept  seven  servants,  whose  wages  sepa- 
rately set  down  amounted  altogether  to  ^20.  The 
average  price  of  mutton  was  2^d.  a  pound  ;  beef 
cost  a  fraction  more.  In  these  faithful  pages  we  find, 
inter  alia,  mention  made  of  "  pipes  and  tobacco."  If  an 
angel  had  been  found  out  in  such  indulgence,  some  good 
people  would  have  hardly  thought  it  more  surprising; 
but  without  entering  into  controversy  about  things  beyond 
us,  we  have  only  to  say  that  the  annual  cost  of  this 
etherialism  was  not  excessive.  Altogether,  life  did  not 
seem  to  be  so  very  difficult.  There  were  as  yet  no  "  sea- 
side places"  discovered,  tempting  to  a  costly  visit  every 
year.    The  furniture  was  not  gorgeous.    There  were  no 

'"Contemporary,"  vol.  ii.  p.  569.  Paper  signed  "Anthony 
Thorold,"  now  Bishop  of  Rochester. 


MARRIED  LIFE. 


50 


ornaments  in  the  room  save  six  or  seven  family  portraits 
on  the  panelled  wall,  and  the  framed  family  arms  with  the 
motto,  "  Dum  vivimus  vivamus."  There  were  no  carpets, 
for  even  in  the  houses  of  the  nobility,  these  were  only  laid 
down  on  state  occasions.  There  was  next  to  no  know- 
ledge of  that  which  makes  the  primary  embarrassment  of 
modern  times — the  strain  to  keep  up  appearances.  In 
the  manse  at  Northampton  there  was  all  the  happiness 
that  comes  of  "  plain  living  and  high  living ;  of  many 
cheap  and  simple  graces — means  of  much  cheerful 
hospitality,  and  power  to  reserve  a  certain  proportion  of 
income,  ultimately  fixed  at  "  one-tenth  of  what  was 
ordinary"  and  "one-eighth  of  what  was  extra-ordinary," 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  away. 

One  morning  in  October,  1733,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nettle- 
ton — the  latter,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  Doddridge's 
sister — were  startled  by  the  receipt  of  a  letter,  which,  un- 
less forged,  was  written  to  them  by  an  infant  only  six 
weeks  old.  The  design  of  the  writer  was  to  notify  the 
event  of  her  arrival  into  this  planet,  and  to  tell  her  expe- 
rience of  life.  This  she  illustrated  by  quotations  from 
Plutarch  "  L)e  Tranquillitate  Animae,''  and  a  fragment  of 
Menander  preserved  by  that  writer,  also  by  a  reference 
to  Juvenal,  and  a  criticism  on  some  of  Tully's  words  in 
his  "  De  Senectute."  She  boasted  of  "  knowing  Greek 
and  Latin  quite  as  well  as  English."  This  was  "  Tetsey 
Doddridge."  It  seems,  that  from  the  very  first,  she  was 
not  like  any  ordinary  infant,  without  character  or  prin- 
ciples, and  day  by  day  the  little  one  grew  into  a  more 
beautiful  wonder.  How,  when  asked  why  everybody 
loved  her,  she  would  say  "because  she  loved  every- 
body ; "  how  she  tried  to  teach  the  little  dog  his  cate- 
chism;  how  she  failed  j  how  he  had  not  a  word  to  say  for 
himself  in  answer  to  her  withering  words,  "  You,  Dr. 
Doddridge's  dog,  and  not  know  who  made  you  ! " — all 
these  are  nursery  stories  now,  and  unbelieving  pilgrims, 
in  confirmation  of  their  faith,  are  still  shown  the  brass 
collar  once  worn  by  Tetsey's  dog.  In  the  middle  of 
June,  1736,  the  child  so  much  beloved  began  to  sicken, 


Go 


MARRIED  LIFE. 


and  early  in  the  following  October,  a  little  grave  had  to 
be  dug  out  in  the  rain  : 

"The  tender  nest  for  tiny  head 
With  every  softness  furnished  " 

had  to  be  exchanged  for  the  cold,  hard  coffin;  and 
placing  his  paper  on  the  coffin  lid,  the  father  wrote  an 
incomparable  discourse  on  the  words,  "  Is  it  well  with 
thee?  is  it  well  with  thine  husband?  is  it  well  with  the 
child?"  (2  Kings  iv.  25,  26).  It  would  be  difficult  to 
find  in  all  the  literature  of  sanctified  sorrow,  sentences 
more  pathetic  and  inspiring  than  those  called  forth  by 
this  affliction,  and  written  in  his  diary. 

It  has  been  well  said  that  in  some  devotional  writers 
we  trace  but  little  communion  with  the  joy,  sorrow,  and 
beauty  of  this  earth — "glad,  sad,  and  sweet  " — so  that  we 
sometimes  wonder  if  they  have  known  any  enjoyments, 
pangs,  or  conflicts,  but  such  as  belong  to  the  life  that  is 
in  God.  We  long  for  a  touch  of  nature  making  them 
our  kin.  "There  is  something  deeply  consoling  in  a 
betrayal  of  personal  feeling,  as  when  Doddridge  laments 
for  his  little  daughter.  '  This  day  my  heart  hath  been 
almost  torn  in  pieces  by  sorrow,  yet  sorrow  so  softened  and 
sweetened,  that  I  number  it  among  the  best  days  of  my 
life.  Doest  thou  well  to  be  angry  for  the  gourd  ?  God 
knows  I  am  not  angry,  but  sorrmvful  He  surely  al/oics  vie 
to  be.  Lord  give  unto  me  a  holy  acquiescence  of  soul 
in  Thee,  and  now  my  gourd  is  withered  shelter  me  under 
the  shadow  of  Thy  wings.'  Here  we  see  the  man 
(most  a  saint  in  being  most  a  man)  agonized  like  his 
Master,  and  like  Him  strengthened  from  on  high,  but  by 
one  greater  than  the  angel.''  1  Hi§  wife  shared  the  same 
supports.  "She  bore  the  affliction,"  he  said,  "in  the  most 
glorious  manner,  and  discovered  more  wisdom,  piety,  and 
strength  of  spirit  than  I  had  ever  in  six  years  had  an 
opportunity  of  observing  before." 

Before  his  eldest  born  was  taken  two  other  daughters 

'  "The  Tatience  of  Hope,"  p.  116. 


MARRIED  LIFE. 


Gi 


made  their  appearance,  Polly  and  Mercy.  "  Mercy,"  wrote 
Lord  Lyttleton  to  him,  some  years  after,  "  Mercy,  indeed ! 
Mercy  on  us  !  It  is  a  barbarous  thing  for  you  Dissenters 
to  impose  such  names  on  your  innocent  babes  !  .  .  .  Fie 
upon  you  !  I  am  ashamed  that  a  man  of  your  classical 
taste  should  be  such  a  Goth.  If  there  were  no  other 
reasons  for  your  quitting  the  Dissenters  and  coming  over 
to  our  church,  but  to  save  any  future  child  from  the 
horrible  danger  of  being  so  christened,  I  would  have  you 
to  do  it  without  delay."  After  Mercy  came  a  son,  and 
Anna  Cecilia  was  born  in  the  following  July.  As  they 
got  older,  the  diminutive  damsels  in  mob-caps  and  tip- 
pets were  the  delight  of  his  soul,  and  were  the  most 
remarkable  children  in  the  world,  the  only  exception 
being  his  son  Philly.  The  way  that  child  repeated  some 
of  Dr.  ^  atts's  verses  was  wonderful.  "  He  will  be  a 
fine  scholar,"  said  he,  and  even  the  great  Dr.  Warburton 
addressed  him  as  "  my  learned  friend."  His  letters  to 
the  children,  and  words  about  them  in  his  diary,  show 
how  constantly  and  tenderly  they  were  prayed  for.  He 
would  also  pray  with  them  at  certain  set  times,  and  at 
other  times,  when  he  could  be  caught,  was  ready  for  a 
frolic,  and  might  even  be  coaxed  into  grinding  a  little 
poetry  for  their  edification.  Sometimes,  and  especially 
when  the  small-pox  was  raging  in  the  town,  they  and  their 
mother  often  found  a  happy  retreat  a  mile  away,  at 
Delapre,  a  stately  old  mansion  once  an  abbey.  There 
King  Edward  the  First  passed  a  night  when  on  his  way 
to  bury  his  dear  queen,  who  had  died  through  sucking 
out  the  poison  that  had  been  shot  into  him  by  an  arrow. 
You  could  see  through  an  opening  in  the  trees,  at  the 
corner  of  the  park,  her  Gothic  monument,  raised  over 
the  spot  where  her  coffin  had  rested,  and  since  called 
"Queen's  Cross."  The  rooks  made  a  cheerful  caw  in 
the  air,  groups  and  files  of  massive  oaks  made  tents  of 
shade  on  the  sunny  grass,  fallow  deer  came  up  in  twos 
and  threes,  peeped  at  them  shyly,  then  scampered  away 
lightly  as  live  shadows ;  and  they  always  thought  the 
place  was  a  little  heaven  below.  "  My  country  seat "  was 


62 


MARRIED  LIFE. 


the  name  given  to  it  by  Doddridge.  It  was  in  reality  the 
seat  of  the  Collyer  family,  about  whom  he  wrote,  "  I  seem, 
indeed,  to  have  found  a  tender  mother  and  four  of  the 
most  affectionate  sisters  a  man  could  have." 

There  was  one  month  in  the  year — one  in  the  two  of 
the  academic  recesses — when  the  busy  man  himself 
indulged  in  a  holiday.  He  would  in  some  years  ride  to 
London  in  that  month,  sending  to  Mercy  the  story  of 
his  adventures,  stage  by  stage  of  the  way.  Arrived  at  the 
great  city  he  would  write,  sometimes  "while  the  post- 
man waited,"  to  tell  her  from  time  to  time  how 
"pure  well"  he  was,  and  what  interesting  things  he 
heard  and  saw  ;  would  tell  her  about  meeting  Mr.  Savage, 
the  poet,  at  Mr.  Calamy's  house ;  would  tell  her  about 
his  horse  falling  down  Mr.  Coward's  well ;  about  having 
seen  "  a  thousand  curiosities  yesterday,  indeed  mor"e,  for 
he  had  "  the  favour  of  seeing  Sir  Hans  Sloane's  museum ;  " 
about  fine  pictures  in  his  chamber  at  Mrs.  Sca\ven"s,  which 
reminded  him,  "  as  all  beautiful  things  did,  of  his  own 
wife."  Also  he  had  postal  consultations  with  her  about 
fans,  crockery,  and  patterns  for  damask.  London  had  a 
population,  he  was  credibly  informed,  of  nearly  five  hun- 
dred thousand  !  No  wonder  that  the  smoke  from  all  the 
needful  fires  was  bad  for  ruffles  and  bands.  It  was 
pleasant  just  to  visit  such  a  place,  but  the  whirl  soon  got 
intolerable.  Sometimes  he  had  the  rare  bliss  of  a  day  in 
the  country.  Whether  he  then  distinguished  himself  at 
the  covert  side  is  not  known,  but  in  a  letter  from  Ongar 
we  find  this  brief  record  of  his  piscatory  prowess  :  "  I  went 
a-fishing  yesterday,  and  with  extraordinary  success,  for  I 
pulled  a  minnow  out  of  the  water,  though  it  made  shift 
to  get  away."  He  warms  into  gay  vanity  in  telling  her 
of  the  honours  paid  him  everywhere,  and  how  lovingly  the 
provincial  ministers  welcomed  him.  In  June,  1742,  he 
travelled  from  place  to  place  in  Devonshire. 

Being  now  the  last  man  of  the  Doddridge  family,  he 
was  thought  to  be  the  true  heir  to  the  ancestral  estates 
in  that  county,  but,  unwilling  to  encounter  the  costly 
trouble  and  risk  of  putting  his  claim  to  the  proof,  just 


MARRIED  LIFE. 


63 


about  this  time  they  ail  passed  away  to  strangers.  This 
gives  a  charming  colour  of  interest  to  the  following 
passage  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Doddridge,  dated  Exeter, 
June  25,  1742:  "  Entertainments  are  daily  provided  for  me 
by  the  principal  families,  and  I  have  seen  that  noble 
palace  which  once  belonged  to  my  family  ;  my  arms  arc 
there  curiously  carved  over  the  great  mantel  place  in  the 
dining-room,  which  is  quite  a  room  of  state ;  and  in 
several  other  places,  particularly  in  a  great  upper  room, 
one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long,  which  is  surrounded 
with  the  arms  of  all  the  nobility  and  gentry  in  these  parts. 
1  assure  you,  my  dear,  I  saw  this  without  regret ;  and  I 
hope  I  have  a  much  nobler  mansion  reserved  for  me  in 
my  Father's  house  above ;  and  in  the  meantime  am  in- 
comparably happier  with  you  in  my  present  circumstances, 
than  such  a  seat  and  all  the  estate  about  Mount  Radford 
could  make  me  without  you,  or  without  my  dear  charge 
at  Northampton." 

Radford  House  is  still  standing,  the  same  but  not  the 
same.  During  the  occupancy  of  Sir  Thomas  Baring, 
grandfather  of  the  present  Earl  of  Northbrook,  it  went 
through  great  alterations,  in  the  course  of  which  the 
crumbling  old  stone  shields  vanished,  and  what  was 
once  a  banqueting-room  in  the  rear  of  the  mansion  was 
turned  into  a  stable,  divided  into  various  compartments. 

Both  husband  and  wife  had  much  physical  delicacy, 
and  one  was  often  afraid  of  losing  the  other.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1742,  it  was  necessary  for  Mrs.  Doddridge  to 
visit  the  "Western  Bethesda,"  for  so  they  called  Bath, 
for  the  sake  of  her  health,  and  to  remain  there  for  a  long, 
long  time.  Many  letters  of  his  of  this  date  have  been 
preserved,  written  in  forms  of  exquisite  old-fashioned 
courtesy,  but  alive  with  the  first  romance  of  love.  \\  ith 
all  this  they  are  full  of  homespun  common-places,  for  he 
wants  to  amuse  the  sufferer,  also  to  make  her  see  how 
beautifully  well  the  household  was  going  on  without  her. 
He  therefore  reports  the  interesting  words  and  ways  of 
the  children,  and  gossips  about  all  kinds  of  things,  even 
condescending  to  tell  the  last  news  about  the  cat  "  Gritty 


64 


MARRIED  LIFE. 


and  her  kittens."  In  the  same  letter,  perhaps,  are 
passages  of  lofty  spirituality.  Here  is  one,  written 
October  3 1,  1742  :  "It  may  seem  strange  to  say  it,  but 
really  so  it  is,  I  hardly  feel  that  I  want  anything.  I  often 
think  of  you  and  pray  for  you,  and  bless  God  on  your 
account,  and  please  myself  with  the  hope  of  many  com- 
fortable days  with  you  ;  yet  I  am  not  at  all  anxious  about 
your  return,  nor  indeed  about  anything  else.  And  the 
reason,  the  great  and  sufficient  reason  is,  that  I  have  more 
of  the  presence  of  God  with  me  than  I  remember  ever  to 
have  enjoyed  in  any  one  month  of  my  life.  He  enables 
me  to  live  for  Him,  and  to  live  with  Him.  When  I  awake 
in  the  morning,  which  is  always  before  it  is  light,  I  address 
myself  to  Him,  and  converse  with  Him  ;  speak  to  Him 
when  I  am  lighting  my  candle  and  putting  on  my  clothes; 
and  have  often  more  delight  in  coming  out  of  my 
chamber,  though  it  be  hardly  a  quarter  of  an  hour  after 
my  awakening,  than  I  have  enjoyed  for  whole  days,  or 
perhaps  weeks,  of  my  life.  He  meets  me  in  my  study, 
in  secret,  in  family  devotions.  It  is  pleasant  to  read, 
pleasant  to  compose,  pleasant  to  converse  with  my 
friends  at  home,  pleasant  to  visit  those  abroad — the 
poor,  the  sick  ;  pleasant  to  write  letters  of  necessary 
business,  by  which  any  good  can  be  done;  pleasant  to 
go  out  and  preach  the  gospel  to  poor  souls  who  are 
thirsting  for  it,  and  others  dying  without  it  ;  pleasant  in 
the  week-day  to  think  how  near  Sabbath  is;  —  but  oh  ! 
much,  much  more  pleasant  to  think  how  near  eternity  is, 
and  how  short  the  journey  through  this  wilderness,  and 
that  it  is  but  a  step  from  earth  to  heaven."1  Other 
letters  contain  similar  passages,  and  one  effect  of  them 
on  Mrs.  Doddridge  seems  to  have  been  fear  that  her  hus- 
band was  not  long  for  this  world ;  she  therefore  sent  him 
many  prudent  admonitions  about  care  for  his  health,  and 
restriction  of  his  labours,  in  answer  to  which  he  writes, 
on  the  22nd  of  December,  a  letter  with  such  sentences 
as  these  in  it:  "  Everybody  wonders  at  my  stoutness." 

1  "Correspondence,"  vol  iv.  p.  125. 


MARRIED  LIFE. 


65 


"Sir  John  Robinson  the  other  night  rallied  me  on  my 
unusual  cheerfulness  as  the  effect  of  your  absence,  how 
justly  you  may  easily  judge."  "If  I  continue  to  improve 
in  the  vigour  of  my  constitution  for  the  next  twelve  years, 
I  shall  be  almost  a  Hercules  in  1754,  and  on  the  same 
principles  a  perfect  Atlas  in  1766."  He  work  beyond  his 
strength,  he  neglect  prudent  care  !  What  next?  Christmas 
was  cold,  but  he  meant  to  go  about  in  a  bear  skin.  There 
was  much  mystification  about  this  article;  and  he  goes  on 
to  say,  "  I  have  purchased  a  bear-skin  of  your  good  friend 
Mr.  Haworth,  in  consequence  of  which  I  hope  I  shall 
both  be  sheltered  from  cold  winds  and  from  all  reflec- 
tions of  being  a  wolf  in  sheep's  clothing,  which  possibly 
some  of  the  shepherds,  through  whose  folds  I  may  prowl, 
might  otherwise  throw  upon  me."  After  all  his  vain 
glory  he  really  does  fall  ill,  but  of  course  is  very  soon 
better  than  he  was  before.  A  long  rhyming  epistle  written 
late  at  night,  the  next  January  26th,  is  woundup  thus  : — 

"  But  you're  long  since  prepared  to  say, 
'  Since  you  escaped  your  nurses,  pray, 
How  have  you  fared  this  blustenng  day?' 
Exceeding  well— for  I  took  care 
To  wrap  myself  in  skin  of  bear ; 
While  each  hand,  warm  in  furry  glove, 
Glowed  with  the  token  of  your  love. 
Thus  at  a  distance  you  inspire 
My  blood  with  warmth,  my  muse  with  fire  ; 
And  yet  the  flame  so  gently  burns, 
1  sigh,  anil  write,  and  nod  by  turns. 

I  therefore  join  with  Mr.  Wright 
To  wis'.i  myself  and  you  good  night." 

Mercy  was  mystified  ;  therefore,  on  February  the  8th, 
he  thus  wrote  to  explain  : — "  A  bear-skin  is  a  rough  gar- 
ment, something  like  that  of  Elijah's,  only  made  of  wool 
instead  of  camel's  hair,  and  in  the  form  not  of  a  Jewish 
mantle,  but  of  an  English  great-coat,  with  two  capes  and 
a  hood,  which  in  the  coldest  weather,  put  over  another 
great-coat  keeps  one  as  warm  as  if  one  were  in  bed.  I 
am  not  the  only  prophet  so  clothed" 
6 


66 


MARRIED  LIFE. 


After  an  illness  of  nearly  seven  months  Dr.  Oliver 
said  that  his  patient  was  now  sufficiently  recovered  to  go 
home.  So  at  last,  in  high  delight,  Dr.  Doddridge  was 
within  sound  of  the  Abbey  bells,  and  sent  a  note  to  her 
late  at  night,  dated  "Bear  Inn,  Bath,  April  13,  1743," 
just  to  notify  thqt  "  he  had  arrived  at  the  city,"  and  that 
"  before  he  left  perhaps  he  might  give  her  a  call."  We 
have  no  time  for  more  than  these  glimpses  of  his  happy 
married  life,  and  must  hasten  to  another  department  of 
the  story. 


VII. 


THE  ACADEMY. 

"  I  will  confound  all  those  that  lies  do  teach  ; 
No  more,  my  people,  do  you  hear  such  preach  ; 
But  seek  the  Word  at  their  mouths  who  are  well 
Train'd  up  at  feet  of  learn'd  Gamaliel, 
Elisha's  double  portion  will  inherit, 
Being  call'd  both  by  the  Church  and  by  the  Spirit." 
Thomas  Washbourne, 

Batchelour  in  Divinity.    1 654. 

THE  academy,  transplanted  from  Harborough  in 
1730,1  was  beginning  to  thrive,  when  an  attempt 
was  made  to  destroy  it.  The  primary  instrument  of  this 
attempt  was  the  Reverend  Mr.  Wills,  vicar  of  Kings- 
thorp,  a  village  in  the  neighbourhood.  There  would 
have  been  little  in  common  between  this  clergyman  and 
any  one  of  his  order  now  living.  The  type  is  extinct,  it 
is  hoped,  and  can  only  be  found  by  digging  into  old 
formations.  Like  many  of  the  village  clergy  of  those 
days,  when  sure  of  his  company,  he  was  given  to  talk  dis- 
respectfully about  a  certain  great  personage  as  "  The  Duke 
of  Brunswick,  commonly  called  King  George  the  Second." 
It  is  said  that  his  "  trophies  in  the  alehouses  "  were  well 
known,  and  that  he  there  had  great  influence  as  an 
implacable  foe  to  the  meetingers,  not  simply  as  such,  but 

1  From  a  MS.  diary  kept  by  one  of  the  students  we  read  that,  in 
travelling  from  London,  after  a  visit  to  relations  at  this  time,  Mr.  John 
Jennings  indulged  in  the  luxury  of  a  ride  in  the  waggon  ;  but  that 
his  companion,  Mr.  Aiken,  said,  "  I  did  not  choose  it,  for  it  would 
have  cost  me  half-a-guinea  !  "  Therefore,  he  walked  by  the  side. 
This  we  consider  to  be  a  glimpse  uf  the  good  old  times  worth  getting. 


68 


THE  ACADEMY. 


as  also  being  Hanoverians.  The  frequenters  of  such 
places  considered  that,  although  they  had  not  much 
religion  themselves,  what  little  they  had  was  good  of  its 
kind,  and  therefore  the  sight  of  men  like  Doddridge 
was  sometimes  too  much  for  their  feelings,  but  they 
looked  upon  this  vicar  with  much  respect.  One  morn- 
ing in  April,  1732,  Doddridge  received  from  this  gentle- 
man a  letter,  in  which  he  asserted  himself  to  be  the  only 
person  responsible  for  the  religious  instruction  given  in 
his  own  parish  ;  complained  that  one  of  the  academy 
youths  had  been  found  holding  forth  in  a  barn  there  ; 
requested  that  this  should  not  be  repeated;  opened  an 
argument  on  the  Divine  right  of  Diocesan  Episcopacy  ; 
and  finished  by  advising  him  to  read  Clemens  Romanus 
and  Lactantius,  of  course  not  in  the  originals,  but  in 
certain  English  translations  which  he  specified — which 
advice  was  likely  to  shoot  into  any  classical  tutor  a 
delicate  sting.  The  tutor  replied  on  the  subject  of  the 
argument.  The  vicar  found  fault  with  his  spelling. 
There  was  another  reply,  which  was  a  pity.  It  might 
have  seemed  an  easy  thing  to  foil  such  an  antagonist. 
In  theory  it  may  be  easy  to  reason  with  a  bull  while  you 
shake  a  red  flag  in  his  face,  but  in  practice  the  bull  is 
apt  to  have  the  best  of  it.  "Good  Mr.  Wills "  was 
angry  ;  he  succeeded  in  making  the  village  clergy  angry, 
the  effect  of  which  came  out  in  a  few  weeks  at  a  visitation 
of  All  Saints  parish,  in  which  Doddridge  lived,  when 
Dr.  Reynolds,  the  Diocesan  Chancellor,  in  the  course  of 
an  harangue  to  the  churchwardens,  said  "  that  he  was 
informed  that  there  was  a  fellow  in  their  parish  who 
taught  a  grammar  school,  which  he  had  the  assurance  to 
call  '  my  academy,'  as  he  supposed,  without  any  licence 
from  the  bishop,"  and  ordered  them,  therefore,  to  examine 
whether  he  had  such  a  licence,  and,  if  not,  to  present 
him,  that  he  might  be  prosecuted  according  to  law  ! 

It  appears  that  since  1603  it  had  been  ecclesiastical 
law  that  no  man  should  be  master  of  a  grammar  school 
without  first  obtaining  a  licence,  with  a  certificate  of  his 
competency,  both  literary  and  religious,  signed  by  the 


THE  ACADEMY. 


(9 


Bishop  of  the  Diocese  or  his  representative.  An  efibit 
was  now  made  to  wake  up  this  sleeping  law  and  bring  it 
into  lively  action  against  the  academies  for  the  education 
of  Nonconformist  ministers.  That  which  excludes  the 
members  or  ministers  of  any  community  from  educational 
advantages  must,  in  the  measure  of  its  effect,  work  their 
social  extinction.  This  was  the  meaning  of  the  Emperor 
Julian's  decree,  disallowing  Christians  to  be  taught  the 
classics  ;  and  this  was  the  attempted  policy  of  the 
Jacobites  against  the  Dissenters.  In  the  present  case,  to 
all  appearance,  not  only  would  the  faculty  have  been 
refused  if  asked  for,  on  the  pretext  that  "  the  master  was 
incompetent  to  teach  the  boys,"  but  there  was  liability  to 
fine  and  imprisonment  for  every  instance  of  teaching 
without  such  faculty.  It  was  resolved  that  this  power  of 
the  court  should  now  be  tested.  The  Northampton 
College,  as  a  representative,  was  to  be  the  subject  of  the 
first  experiment,  and  the  fate  of  all  the  others  in  England 
would  be  decided  in  the  fate  of  this  one. 

Shortly  after  the  visitation,  therefore,  Doddridge 
received  a  formal  citation  to  appear  before  the  Con- 
sistory Court,  and  here  follows  a  copy  of  the  original 
document,  a  curiosity,  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Rev. 
Fuller  Russell,  F.S.A. : 

"  To  Philip  Dotteridge  of  the  Parish  of  All  Saints  in 
the  Town  of  Northampton  in  the  County  of  Northampton 
Gentl. 

"  By  virtue  of  a  Citation  under  seal  herewith  shown  unto 
you  I  Cite  you  to  appear  personally  before  the  Reverend 
George  Reynolds  Doctor  of  laws  Vicar  General  Com- 
missary General  and  Official  Principal  in  Spiritual  Matters 
of  the  Right  Reverend  ffather  in  God  Robert  by  Divine 
Permission  Lord  Bishop  of  Peterborough  and  also 
Official  of  the  Reverend  the  Archdeacon  of  the  Arch- 
deaconry of  Northampton  or  his  lawfull  surrogate  or 
some  other  Competent  Judge  in  this  behalfe  in  the  Con- 
sistory Court  adjoyning  to  the  Parish  Church  of  all  Saints 
in  the  said  town  of  Northampton  on  Tuesday  the  Sixth 


7o 


THE  ACADEMY. 


day  of  November  1733  at  the  usual  time  of  hearing 
Causes  there  then  and  there  to  answer  to  certain  Articles 
or  Interrogatories  to  be  objected  and  administered  to 
You  concerning  your  Soul's  health  and  the  Reformation 
and  Correction  of  Your  manners  and  excess  And  espe- 
cially Your  teaching  and  instructing  Youth  in  the  Liberal 
Arts  and  Sciences  not  being  Licensed  thereto  by  the 
Ordinary  of  the  Diocese  touching  either  Your  Learning 
and  Dexterity  in  teaching  or  Your  right  understanding  of 
God's  true  religion  or  Your  honest  and  sober  Conver- 
sation at  the  promotion  of  and  pursuant  to  a  certain 
Detection  or  presentment  exhibited  against  you  by 
Thomas  Rand  and  Benjamin  Chapman  Churchwardens 
of  the  said  parish  of  All  Saints  in  the  said  town  of 
Northampton  And  farther  to  do  and  receive  according  to 
Law  and  Justice  Will  Spencer." 

So  the  first  shot  was  fired,  and  there  was  alarm  in  the 
camp  of  the  Nonconformists,  but  no  louder  expressions  of 
indignant  surprise  were  spoken  than  by  some  of  the  most 
loyal  churchmen.  The  churchwarden  in  whose  name  the 
measure  was  carried  on,  expressed  his  abhorrence  of  it, 
and  before  its  commencement  asked  Mr.  Doddridge  "  if 
he  could  with  safety  to  himself  refuse  to  sign  the  pre- 
sentment, or  do  anything  else  to  make  the  matter  easier?" 
The  Chancellor  assured  him  that  he  had  instituted  the 
prosecution  purely  to  vindicate  the  authority  of  his  court, 
and  that  even  now,  if  he  would  apply  to  him  for  a  licence, 
he  would  grant  it,  still  asserting  the  rights  he  had  claimed, 
but  waiving  the  exercise  of  them  as  a  matter  of  personal 
courtesy.  Doddridge,  however,  saw  that  this  would  be 
a  dangerous  precedent;  refused  to  recognise  the  right  of 
ecclesiastical  inspection  of  seminaries  for  training  minis- 
ters for  churches  outside  the  Establishment ;  and  declined 
accepting  a  licence  on  any  terms  until  the  matter  had 
been  brought  before  a  civil  court.  His  letter  to  the 
Committee  of  Dissenting  Deputies,  containing  the  report 
of  this  proposal  and  his  reply,  was  shown  by  those 
gentlemen  to  Sir  Robert  Walpolc,  who  was  "  very  much 


THE  ACADEMY. 


7* 


pleased"  with  it.  They  undertook  the  entire  management 
and  expense  of  the  cause  at  Westminster  Hall ;  through 
Lord  Halifax  engaged  the  services  of  the  Solicitor- 
General  ;  and  resolved  that,  if  the  decision  should  prove 
unfavourable,  they  would  next  try  their  strength  in 
Parliament.  On  January  30,  1734,  the  judges  ordered 
a  prohibition.  Doddridge  and  his  friends  were  then 
advised  to  make  a  certain  declaration,  and  on  the  follow- 
ing June  the  Chancellor  put  in  a  reply  to  it,  the  purport 
of  which  was  that  the  prohibition  had  been  illegally 
granted.  The  process  was  going  on  indefinitely,  when 
King  George  the  Second,  conformably  to  his  maxim, 
"  That  in  his  reign  there  should  be  no  persecutions  for 
conscience'  sake,"  sent  a  message  which  brought  it  to  a 
close. 

In  September,  1733,  at  the  beginning  of  this  litigation, 
a  riotous  attack  was  made  on  the  academy  house  by  a 
Jacobite  rabble,  which  the  Mayor  seemed  to  think  was 
only  natural,  and  therefore  declined  to  interfere.  The 
file  of  the  Northampton  Mercury  of  that  period  has  been 
searched  in  vain  for  an  account  of  the  outrage.  Mr. 
Hankin,  writing  to  the  doctor,  remarked,  "  We  had  a 
pulpit  and  some  of  the  pews  in  a  meeting  house  in  this 
county  pulled  out  and  demolished,  and  not  a  paper 
durst  speak  a  word  of  it." 

While  he  thus  "  dwelt  in  the  midst  of  alarm,"  there  was 
a  church  living,  worth  ^"400  a  year,  waiting  for  li is 
acceptance,  as  soon  as  he  was  ready  to  conform.  He 
was  also  urgently  asked  to  succeed  the  famous  Doctor 
Edmund  Calamy  at  Westminster,  and  had  various  other 
distracting  invitations.  The  one  hardest  to  negative  was 
from  Mr.  Coward,  a  rich  London  merchant,  who  pro- 
posed to  build  and  endow  an  Independent  college  at 
Walthamstow,  with  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  learned  friend,  Mr. 
John  Eames,  as  one  of  the  tutors,  and  Mr.  Doddridge  as 
Principal.  This  project  was  not  to  be  carried  out  in  his 
lifetime,  which  lie  was  warned  would  not  be  for  long,  and 
it  was  his  wish  that  meanwhile  Doddridge  should  come 
up  to  his  neighbourhood  and  take  charge  of  the  little 


72 


THE  ACADEMY. 


Presbyterian  church  in  the  village.  He  was  a  kind  but 
eccentric  gentleman,  who  had  royal  generosity  in  his 
heart,  the  cramp  in  his  legs,  and  a  "  bee  in  his  bonnet."  1 
Having  to  do  w  ith  him  was  like  having  to  step  softly  over 
a  galvanic  pavement,  not  knowing  when  the  next  shock 
would  come  off.  He  was  always  altering  his  will,  and  re- 
quired watchful  and  tender  management.  Doctors  Watts 
and  Jenningswere  afraid  that,  if  thwartedinhis  educational 
scheme,  the  twenty  thousand  pounds  set  apart  lor  it 
would  be  spent  in  some  other  direction ;  therefore,  know- 
ing the  special  fitness  of  Doddridge  for  the  principalship, 
they  urged  him  to  accept  it.  His  post  was  precarious  at 
Northampton  ;  he  was  also  harassed  by  certain  merciless 
ci  itics  of  character,  who  assumed  that  he  would  of  course 
accept  one  or  other  advantageous  offer  of  a  change, 
and  that  if  he  did  so,  it  would  of  course  be  from  a  mean 
motive;  and  altogether  he  knew  not  which  way  to  take. 

The  following  passages,  slightly  abridged,  are  in  a 
letter  written  to  him  at  this  perplexing  juncture  by  the 
Rev.  Charles  Rogers,  then  the  Baptist  minister  of  College 
Lane  Meeting,  in  the  same  town  : 

"  Dear  and  Honoured  Father  in  Christ  and  Beloved 
of  God,- —  ...  I  am  fully  persuaded  in  my  own  mind  that 
.  .  .  you  will  hear  a  voice  behind  you  in  a  little  time,  saying, 
'this  is  the  way,  walk  thou  in  it'  This  text  was  given 
me  to  clear  my  way  to  this  town  when  I  lay  under  heart- 
pressing  troubles  from  Christian  friends,  who  charged  me 
with  love  to  the  world,  on  the  principle  I  acted  upon  in 
leaving,  but  God  was  my  witness  to  the  contrary.  Dear 
father,  if  I  may  drop  a  word  of  advice  to  you  with 
reverence,  and  from  my  own  experience,  I  will  remind 
you  of  these  texts:  'Give  yourself  to  prayer'  (Psa. 
cix.  4);  '  He  shall  direct  thy  path  '  (I'rov.  iii.  6).  If  a 
faithful  minister  should  break  through  the  affectionate 
prayers  and  tears  of  his  dear  brethren,  only  that  he  might 
do  the  will  of  God,  as  Paul  did,  though  it  went  near  to 
break  his  heart  (Acts  xxi.  12,  13,  19),  I  think  his  friends 

1  Mr.  Barker's  expression. 


THE  ACADEMY. 


73 


should  not  let  earthly  passions  move  them.  For  my  part, 
your  removal  will  be  no  small  trouble  to  me  and  mine, 
but  excess  in  this  would  be  high  rebellion  against  God. 
.  .  .  The  Wonderful  Counsellor  will  be  your  advocate, 
mercy  will  compass  you  about,  and  what  is  obtained  by 
prayer  will  be  sweet  in  enjoyment  both  to  you  and  yours. 
I  have  found  at  times  the  blessed  benefit  of  ceasing  from 
man  and  of  putting  my  trust  in  God — both  for  obtaining 
the  mind  of  God  in  point  of  duty,  and  strength  to  be 
found  in  it.  Though  I  remain  weak  as  water  when 
left  of  God,  I  hope  He  has  given  me  a  spirit  of  prayer  for 
you  and  yours,  that  He  may  give  you  counsel,  and  that  the 
light  of  His  word  might  shine  upon  the  particular  path  He 
would  have  you  to  walk  in,  according  to  that  glorious 
promise  which  He  has  made  good  even  to  me,  a  feeble 
David.  'I  will  instruct  thee  and  teach  thee  in  the  way 
which  thou  shalt  go  ;  I  will  guide  thee  with  mine  eye' 
(Psa.  xxxii.  8).'' 

There  is  no  doubt  that  "  trials  gave  new  life  to  prayer," 
and  that  it  was  by  the  light  thus  received  he  saw  his 
way  to  stay  at  Northampton.  The  attacks  on  his  academy 
brought  it  into  notice  and  repute.  In  1736  the  two 
colleges  of  Aberdeen  University  recognised  his  services  as 
a  teacher,  by  presenting  him  in  separate  diplomas  with 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity.  From  the  time  of 
good  Mr.  Coward's  death  in  1738,  his  trustees  carried 
out  his  known  wishes,  though  not  expressed  in  a  will,  by 
supporting  young  men  in  his  academy,  and  in  no  way 
interfering  with  its  management  during  his  lifetime,  but 
afterwards  assuming  the  entire  control  of  the  endow- 
ment. The  academic  interest  grew  and  prospered. 

During  the  twenty-one  years  of  its  history,  the  number 
of  pupils  in  a  year  ranged  from  thirteen  to  forty-six.  YVe 
have  no  complete  list  of  the  sum  total.  The  ordinary 
term  of  study  was  five  years.  Among  other  ministers 
of  mark  who  passed  through  this,  we  find  the  following. 
Dr.  Aiken,  afterwards  Principal  of  the  Academy  at  War- 
rington.   Dr.  Samuel  Merivale,  tutor  at  Exeter.  Dr. 


74 


THE  ACADEMY. 


Kippis,  editor  of  the  "  Biographia  Britannica,"  and  of 
whom  Robert  Hall  said,  "  he  laid  so  many  books  upon 
his  head  that  his  brain  could  not  move."  Mr.  John 
Jennings,  son  of  the  Kibvvorth  tutor,  the  darling  of  his 
family,  "  the  wit  of  the  academy ; "  many  of  whose  droll 
sayings  have  been  preserved  in  the  diary  of  his  fellow 
student,  Merivale.  Mr.  Job  Orton,  called  by  Doddridge 
"  the  unparalleled."  Dr.  Stephen  Addington,  first  tutor 
of  what  was  afterwards  known  as  "  Hoxton  Academy." 
The  two  sons  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Steffe,  vicar  of  Wrexham — 
one  of  whom  took  orders  like  his  father ;  and  the  other, 
dying  early,  as  the  Independent  minister  of  Taunton, 
left  a  memorial  volume  of  sermons,  to  which  the  Doctor 
prefixed  a  charming  biographical  sketch.  Mr.  James 
Sheppard,  who  died  just  as  he  had  entered  upon 
his  pastoral  work,  and  who  also  left  a  volume  of 
sermons  which  had  a  tutorial  introduction.  Dr. 
Caleb  Ashworth,  tutor  of  the  Daventry  academy.  Dr. 
John  Stafford.  Mr.  Hugh  Farmer,  who  wrote  with  much 
originality  and  learning  on  "  Miracles,"  on  "  Demoniacs," 
and  on  other  difficult  subjects,  his  treatises  being  once  held 
in  high  consideration.  Mr.  Thomas  Strange,  an  apostolic 
man,  about  whose  death  Messrs.  Bogue  and  Bennett  say  in 
their  "  History  of  Dissenters  :"  "  The  tears  and  groans  of 
his  flock  attested  the  greatness  of  their  love  ;  it  would  be 
indeed  a  less  difficult  task  to  find  a  suitable  successor  to 
the  see  of  Canterbury  than  to  the  pastorate  in  the  village 
of  Kilsby."  Mr.  Joseph  Sowden,  of  Rotterdam,  spoken 
of  by  Harmer  the  Orientalist  as  "  a  learned  and  very 
ingenious  man."  1  Mr.  Benjamin  Fawcett,  who  was  one  of 
Baxter's  successors  at  Kidderminster,  and  who  attained 
"a  goodly  measure  of  the  Baxterian  importunity  and 
pathos  in  preaching."  2  Mr.  Risdon  Darracott,3  a  gen- 
tleman of  old  Devonshire  family,  between  which  and 

1  "  Manner's  Observations,"  vol.  i.  pref.  xxx. 

2  Dr.  Hamilton. 

3  In  the  register  of  the  marriages  of  Richard  Doddridge's  children 
kept  in  Barnstaple  Parish  Church,  there  is  the  following  :  "John 
Darracott  and  Dorothie  Doddridge,  May  24,  1596." 


THE  ACADEMY. 


75 


that  of  Doddridge  there  had  anciently  been  some  con- 
nection, and  portraits  of  several  of  whose  ancestors  may 
still  be  seen  on  the  walls  of  Barnstaple  Guildhall.  More 
than  any  of  the  others,  he  seems  to  have  caught  the 
mantle  of  his  master  :  there  will  be  more  to  say  of  him 
presently.  The  last  survivor  of  the  brotherhood  was  Mr. 
Thomas  Taylor,  who  in  1828  erected  a  marble  monu- 
ment over  the  grave  of  Doddridge  at  Lisbon,  and  who 
died  in  1831,  in  his  ninety-seventh  year,  having  chosen 
for  the  text  of  his  funeral  sermon,  "Christ  in  you,  the 
hope  of  glory." 

Taking  leave  to  borrow  a  convenient  phrase,  we  would 
call  attention  to  the  "lay"  as  well  as  the  clerical  stu- 
dents. In  the  list  of  these,  we  find  the  Earl  of  Dunmore; 
Lord  William  Manners,  who  was  a  brother  of  the  Duke 
of  Rutland  ;  Sir  Henry  Houghton  ;  one  young  man  who 
was  a  son  of  Lord  Kilkerran;  another  who  was  maternal 
grandson  of  the  Earl  of  Buchan;  Professor  Gilbert  Robert- 
son ;  also  Dr.  James  Robertson,  Professor  of  Oriental 
Literature  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh  ;  young  men 
related,  one  to  the  Earl  of  Leven,  another  to  Sir  Robert 
Monro;  men  who  were  afterwards  merchants,  doctors  of 
medicine,  barristers-at-law,  members  of  Parliament,  or 
officers  in  the  army;  also  a  few  strangers  from  Holland. 
You  may  think  it  surprising  that  some  of  these  gentlemen 
did  not  as  a  matter  of  course  rather  choose  Oxford  or 
Cambridge  as  the  place  of  their  final  education.  It  must 
be  remembered  that,  at  that  time,  the  universities  were 
not  at  their  best  as  teaching  institutions;  that  in  this  re- 
spect they  suffered  a  decadence  in  the  days  of  the  two 
first  Georges;  and  that,  although  the  greatest  living 
scholars  were  still  holding  highest  office  there,  they  com- 
monly did  so  as  reposing  in  their  dignity,  not  as  active 
in  their  trust.  Adam  Smith,  who  had  graduated  at 
Oxford,  said,  "The  greater  part  of  the  public  profession 
have  for  these  many  years  given  up  altogether  the  prac- 
tice of  teaching."  Gibbon  tells  us  that,  in  his  time, 
"public  exercises  and  examinations  were  utterly  unknown." 
Lord  Chesterfield  speaks  of  the  "rust"  of  Cambridge  as 


76 


THE  ACADEMY. 


something  of  which  a  polished  man  should  promptly  rid 
himself.  Gray,  the  poet,  insists  that  Isaiah  had  Cam- 
bridge equally  with  Babylon  in  view  when  he  said,  "Their 
houses  shall  be  full  of  doleful  creatures,  and  owls 
shall  dwell  there,  and  satyrs  shall  dance  there."  West 
speaks  in  the  same  strain.  Whatever  reluctance  we  feel 
to  receive  the  statement,  it  really  was  a  time  when  there 
was  some  colour  of  truth  in  the  satirical  stanza  in  which 
the  forms  requisite  for  graduation  were  described  as  often 
being  thus : 

.    .    .    "  which  Balaam's  ass 
As  well  as  Balaam's  self  might  pass  ; 
And  with  his  master  take  degrees, 
Could  he  contrive  to  pay  the  fees." 

As  to  the  "  birth-tongue  of  the  people,"  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  men  generally  knew  how  to  spell  most  words  one 
way  or  another;  but  a  knowledge  of  the  English  language 
was  hardly  reckoned  as  a  scholastic  accomplishment,  and 
there  was  nothing  that  tended  to  promote  it. 

If  we  measure  the  value  of  the  education  given  at  North- 
ampton by  the  average  educational  standard  of  the  times, 
we  shall  find,  that  perhaps  these  gentlemen  were  not  such 
serious  losers  as  might  have  been  expected.  Being,  as 
most  of  them  were,  kept  out  of  the  universities  by  the 
bar  of  their  Nonconformity,  they  had  to  be  "content  with 
science  in  a  humble  shed,"  and  might  congratulate  them- 
selves that  after  all  they  were  tolerably  well  off.  It 
would  be  simply  comic  to  think  of  any  comparison  be- 
tween any  small  private  seminary,  however  excellent,  and 
a  college  belonging  to  one  of  those  ancient  and  stately 
seats  of  learning,  of  which  all  Englishmen  have  a  right  to 
feel  so  proud;  but  we  are  now  about  to  show  that  it  was 
a  great  thing  in  the  circumstances,  for  young  men  to  have 
the  training  as  well  as  to  be  under  the  watchful  Christian 
care  of  a  man  like  Doddridge. 

Of  course  the  academy  was  Christian  from  the  very 
root — that,  or  nothing.  True,  membership  of  a  Christian 
church,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term,  was  not  one  of 


THE  ACADEMY. 


77 


the  conditions  of  admission  ;  and  as  the  main  design  was 
to  train  persons  for  the  gospel  ministry,  this  looks  like  a 
radical  defect;  but  most  of  the  alumni  had  already  made 
such  a  profession  of  faith,  and  seventy-eight  did  so  while 
under  the  doctor's  ministry.  Many  things  show  how 
earnestly  he  watched  for  their  souls.  Here  is  an  illustra- 
tion. In  the  Wilson  MSS.  we  find  many  small  papers 
folded  in  narrow  slips — brown,  brittle,  marked  with  short- 
hand cyphers,  and  altogether  looking  a  little  like  "Papyri 
of  the  Exodus."  Each  paper  has  a  student's  signature 
on  it,  and  evidently  contains  his  answer  to  some  simple 
question  of  practical  religion.  The  papers  are  packed  in 
sheaves  according  to  the  subject,  which  are  such  as  these: 
"  What  are  those  sins  and  temptations  which  a  child  of 
God,  who  serves  Him  in  the  sincerity  of  his  heart,  hath 
the  greatest  struggle  with, and  finds  the  hardest  to  subdue?" 
"  How  may  we  most  profitably  attend  on  Divine  ordin- 
ances?" "What  are  the  first  symptoms  of  religious 
decay?"  "What  discouragements  are  those  which  most 
frequently  prevent  young  persons  from  attending  the 
Lord's  Table?"  "What  is  the  difference  between 
natural  and  revealed  religion?"  "How  far  may  a  man 
go  towards  heaven,  and  yet  fall  short?  "  "  What  are  the 
evidences  of  love  to  God  ?  "  Various  notes  have  been 
found,  written  by  householders  in  the  town  with  whom 
some  of  the  pupils  lodged,  and  prove  to  be  the  required 
certificates  as  to  the  conduct  of  their  lodgers. 

It  was  understood  that  candidates  for  admission  to  the 
academy  had  already  finished  their  studies  at  a  grammar 
school.1  Youths  who  seemed  to  have  gifts  for  the 
ministry,  but  who  had  not  been  to  such  schools,  were 
sent  to  them  until  they  were  qualified  to  be  students  at 
the  college.  Sometimes  there  were  several  going  through 
this  preparation,  often  at  his  own  expense.  Occasionally, 
and  exceptionally,  young  men  of  three  or  four  and  twenty, 
seeming  to  have  a  Divine  call  to  pastoral  service,  but 
who  had  received  no  early  training,  were  received  into 

1  Letter  to  Lord  Halifax:  "  Correspondence,"  vol.  iii.  p.  109; 
"Works,"  vol.  iii.  p.  335. 


78 


THE  ACADEMY. 


the  house  without  it,  and  without  requiring  them  to 
attempt  touching  classical  studies,  which  in  such  cases 
would  probably  have  been  a  waste  of  time.  "  He 
thought,"  says  Dr.  Kippis,  "  that  they  might  be  useful 
in  plain  country  congregations,  which  was  undoubtedly 
the  case."  As  a  rule,  his  pupils  were  fair  Latinists  to 
begin  with,  but  he  often  complained  that  Greek  had  been 
much  neglected.  An  assistant  relieved  him  of  the 
elementary  teaching  they  might  still  require  in  the  first 
two  years,  and  after  that  they  attended  his  own  lectures 
on  the  classics.  Rich's  "  System  of  Shorthand  "  was  one 
of  the  first  things  they  had  to  learn,  in  order  to  take 
down  lectures  and  make  references  with  facility.  All  who 
were  preparing  for  the  ministry  had,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
to  learn  Hebrew.  "This,"  said  he,  "  is  so  very  necessary 
that  I  wonder  it  should  ever  be  omitted  ;  or  that  any 
young  gentleman  in  an  age  like  ours  should  be  judged 
competently  qualified  for  the  pulpit,  who  lies  as  much  at 
the  mercy  of  translators  in  studying  the  larger  half  of  the 
Bible,  as  any  of  the  people  he  has  to  teach."  1 

In  the  morning,  at  six  in  the  summer,  at  seven  in  the 
winter,  a  bell  sounded,  and  shortly  after,  they  all  assembled 
in  the  lecture-room,  when  a  prayer  was  offered  up,  after 
which  they  dispersed  to  their  several  studies.  They  met 
again  at  family  worship,  which  the  doctor  opened  by  a 
short  prayer;  after  which  a  chapter  of  the  Old  Testament 
was  read  in  Hebrew  by  the  senior,  which  he  expounded 
critically  and  practically  ;  a  psalm  was  then  sung,  and 
there  was  a  closing  prayer.  There  was  the  same  order  in 
the  evening  service,  the  only  difference  being  that  verses 
in  a  chapter  of  the  New  Testament  were  then  read  in 
rotation,  sometimes  in  Greek,  sometimes  in  French. 
Each  student  had  the  Old  Testament  and  Wetstein's 
Greek  Testament,  in  quarto,  interleaved,  in  order  to  take 
down  the  expositions.  The  doctor's  notes  of  these  in 
shorthand  are  still  to  be  seen.  Shortly  after  breakfast  he 
lectured  to  each  class  in  order,  his  assistant  at  the  same 

1  "  Memoirs  of  the  Rev.  W.  Thomas  Steflfe ; "  "  Works,"  vol.  iv. 
p.  251. 


THE  ACADEMY. 


79 


time  being  engaged  in  like  manner.  The  main  staple  of 
the  curriculum  was  a  series  of  250  lectures  on  "  The 
principal  subjects  in  Pneumatology,  Ethics,  and  Divinity." 
These  lectures  have  several  times  been  published  in  two 
octavo  volumes,  with  the  outside  of  which  many  are 
familiar,  but  most  persons  have  been  frightened  away 
from  the  inside  by  the  grim  structure  seen  there  of 
Axioms,  Definitions,  Scholia,  Corollaries,  Lemmas, 
Solutions,  and  Demonstrations.  The  lectures  look  dry 
as  diagrams.  We  are,  however,  unfair  judges  while  we 
only  think  of  them  as  the  contents  of  a  printed  book. 
We  ought  to  realise  them  while  in  use  by  the  lecturer. 
Then,  out  of  these  dead  stems  and  branches  grew  living 
questions  and  answers,  and  over  this  hard  frame-work 
flowered  illustrations  fresh  from  his  full  mind  and  vast 
reading.  We  only  see  the  skeletons  of  trees  that  were 
then  alive  with  spring  foliage.  A  graver  objection  than 
any  on  the  grounds  of  mere  taste,  is  that,  in  accordance 
with  the  fashion  of  that  generation,  they  attempt  to  cast 
theological  instruction  into  a  mathematical  form,  and 
appear  to  deal  with  the  doctrines  of  revelation,  the  truth 
of  which  is  determined  by  "  the  evidence  of  things  not 
seen,"  as  if  they  were  susceptible  of  the  same  kind  of 
proof  as  subjects  in  mathematics.  As  a  professor  of 
Divinity,  we  should  still  more  seriously  question  the 
wisdom  of  his  method,  if  we  are  to  accept  without 
qualification  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Kippis — "that  he  repre- 
sented the  arguments  and  referred  to  the  authorities  on 
both  sides,  the  students  being  left  to  judge  for  themselves : 
and  they  did  judge  for  themselves  with  his  perfect  con- 
currence and  approbation,  though  no  doubt  it  was  natural 
for  him  to  be  pleased  when  their  sentiments  coincided 
witli  his  own."  There  is  nothing  like  this  in  his  printed 
lectures.  There  might  possibly  be  something  like  it  when 
presiding  over  certain  oral  disputations  on  the  doctrines 
of  the  Bible.  Sometimes  his  excessive  candour  might 
then  have  kept  him  from  pronouncing  so  strongly  as  he 
should  have  done  the  conclusions  to  which  he  himself 
saw  his  way ;  or  he  might  have  thought  that,  even  in 


\ 


So 


THE  ACADEMY. 


such  a  case,  it  was  the  duty  of  chairmanship  to  take  no 
sides.  If  so,  we  think  it  was  a  mistake,  and  the  occasion 
of  mistakes.  We  have  a  right  to  know  what  side  a 
Divinity  tutor  takes,  and  why  he  takes  it.  But  if  mis- 
taken in  judgment,  he  was  noble  in  aim.  He  was  training 
teachers  ;  and  he  knew  that  what  some  men  call  their 
own  opinions  are  only  the  opinions  of  others  taken  with- 
out examination,  and  that  such  men  will  never  make 
teachers.  By  making  his  men  think,  by  quickening  the 
sense  of  difficulty,  and  by  showing  what  can  be  said  on 
the  other  side,  he  wished  to  strengthen  the  spirit  of 
charity  and  fairness,  while  at  the  same  time  he  got  his 
pupils  more  thoroughly  "rooted  and  grounded  "  in  vital 
truth. 

Besides  the  lectures  in  this  syllabus,  he  taught  Algebra, 
Geometry,  Natural  Philosophy,  Civil  Law,  and  Jewish 
Antiquities.  Sometimes  he  would  indulge  in  Lectures 
on  Rhetoric,  on  the  Microscope,  and  on  Astronomy. 
"  Lampe's  Epitome  of  Ecclesiastical  History"  was  the 
ground- work  of  a  series  of  lectures  on  that  subject;  as 
was  "  Buddaei  Compendium  Historic  Philosophical  "  of 
another  on  the  doctrines  of  the  ancient  philosophers. 
Sometimes  he  would  give  a  course  of  lectures  on  the 
Library,  going  through  case  after  case,  and  row  after  row 
of  books,  pouring  out  streams  of  delightful  talk,  rich 
with  critical  information  and  sparkling  with  anecdote. 

"  I  have  not  the  Chancellor's  encyclopaedic  mind," 
said  Macaulay  of  Brougham.  "  He  is  indeed  a  kind  of 
semi-Solomon.  He  half  knows  everything,  from  the 
cedar  of  Lebanon  to  the  hyssop  on  the  wall.''  '  It  seems 
like  irreverence  to  make  such  a  quotation  just  now  ;  our 
pen  ought  not  to  have  run  away  with  us  so  far.  Dodd- 
ridge was  almost  unrivalled  in  his  power  of  rapidly 
acquiring  knowledge,  in  his  clearness  of  apprehension, 
in  his  mental  orderliness  enabling  him  to  store  it  away, 
and  in  the  delight  he  felt  in  impartation.  Still,  we  are 
unable  to  conceive  how  one  man  could  efficiently  under- 

*  "Macvey  Napier's  Correspondence." 


THE  ACADEMY. 


Si 


take  so  many  branches  of  instruction,  and  we  only  hope 
that  none  of  his  pupils  mistook  for  real  knowledge  what 
was  only  a  poetical  acquaintance  with  Euclid,  and  a  mere 
mental  scamper  all  round  the  Cyclopaedia. 

It  was  required  that  all  who  were  preparing  for  the 
Christian  ministry  should,  as  far  as  all  fair  criteria  could 
show,  be  true  men  of  God,  and  when  he  afterwards  had 
reason  to  think  that  any  one  of  them  lacked  this  essen- 
tial, that  one  was  advised  to  leave  the  academy  and  seek 
some  other  vocation.  Ministerial  students,  in  addition 
to  the  regular  work,  had  lectures  and  exercises  special  to 
themselves.  By  much  personal  communication,  and  by 
inviting  their  attendance  with  him  in  various  departments 
of  pastoral  work,  he  helped  them  to  an  insight  into  the 
requirements  of  a  pastorate.  With  equal  concern  would 
he  labour  to  train  them  for  the  preacher's  vocation. 
"  The  old,  absurd  method,  first  send  young  men  into  the 
pulpit,  then  train  them  for  it,"  1  got  no  sympathy  from 
him.  He  never  sent  his  young  men  into  the  pulpit 
without  endeavouring  by  foregoing  discipline  of  exact 
writing  and  free  debate  to  educate  the  power  of  fit,  ready, 
and  effective  expression.  He  criticised  their  elocution, 
and  in  this,  as  in  other  things,  his  advice  was  in  the 
spirit  of  that  once  given  by  Vittorino,  "  unlearn,  at  once, 
what  by  misfortune  you  have  wi/xlearned  elsewhere." 
He  referred  to  his  own  somewhat  violent  style  of  speak- 
ing as  a  "caution."  One  of  his  methods  of  teaching 
them  to  preach  was  this  :  lie  never  allowed  them,  when 
they  supplied  pulpits  in  their  earlier  academic  life,  to 
preach  their  own  sermons,  but  only  to  "  repeat "  certain 
selected  sermons  of  others.  This  excellent  habit  is,  we 
are  told,  adopted  to  some  extent  by  young  preachers 
even  now,  but  perhaps  with  a  difference — for  the  "re- 
petitions "  by  Doddridge's  young  men  were  called  "repeti- 
tions." Everybody  understood  them  to  be  simply  such. 
Dr.  Warburton  said  :  "  The  other  day  I  was  particularly 
vindicating  and  commending  two  things  in  your  academy: 
one  was  the  method  of  introducing  students  into  the 
1  Rev.  Josiah  Thomson,  Clapham,  1770. 

7 


S2 


THE  ACADEMY. 


pulpit,  by  repeating  sermons  for  a  few  months  before 
they  begin  to  preach,  which  can  only  be  done  well  in  the 
country.''  1  That  the  plan  was  perfect  we  are  not  quite 
prepared  to  say,  but  it  certainly  had  some  advantages, 
and  suggests  some  important  considerations.  Doddridge 
knew  that  "  the  Lord's  foolish  people  "  frequently  seem 
to  expect  from  beginners  a  kind  of  instantaneous  maturity. 
Without  a  thought  about  what  they  are  as  students,  they 
seem  to  think,  only  of  what  they  already  are  as  preachers, 
and  are  given  most  to  extol  young  preachers  who  preach 
with  most  unction  about  heavy  crosses,  sweet  consolations, 
and  deep  experiences — experiences  which  for  the  pre- 
sent are  to  them  impossibilities.  This  plan  of  having 
"  repetitions  "  secured  good  sound  teaching  to  the  con- 
gregations, yet  saved  the  youthful  dispensers  of  it  from 
an  awful  temptation  to  untruth  and  unreality  ;  it  saved 
them  from  much  severe  mental  taxation,  the  effect  of  which 
would  have  been  to  draw  them  away  from  the  studies  that 
were  fitting  them  for  their  life-work,  and  so  helped  them 
to  get  the  most  good  out  of  their  precious  college  time 
—the  time  of  serving  the  needful  apprenticeship  in  the 
use  of  their  tools. 

The  funds  which  Mr.  Coward's  trustees  used  for  the 
support  of  certain  students  in  Doddridge's  academy 
were,  after  his  time,  devoted  to  the  support  of  a  separate 
institution,  known  in  later  days  as  Coward  College. 
Tin's,  with  two  other  colleges,  have  since  1850  been 
united  in  one  noble  establishment ;  and  we  endorse  the 
late  Dr.  James  Hamilton's  opinion,  that  New  College 
"  should  contain  a  statue  of  Doddridge,  as  the  man  who 
gave  the  mightiest  impulse  to  the  work  of  rearing  an 
educated  Nonconformist  ministry  in  England." 


1  Letter  written  Feb.  24,  1743. 


VIII. 


SA  YINGS  AND  DOINGS  IN  CONNECTION  WITH 
THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 

"  Ye  mountains  and  vales, 

In  praises  abound  ; 
Ye  hills  and  ye  dales, 

Continue  the  sound  ; 
Break  forth  into  singing, 

Ye  trees  of  the  wood, 
For  Jesus  is  bringing 

Lost  sinners  to  God." 

Sung  in  1748  by  a  vast  congregation,  at  one  of 
Wesley's  Open-air  Services. 

THE  earlier  Hanoverian  period  was  a  seed-time  of 
great  things,  but  a  seed-time  only.  From  the 
Peace  of  Utrecht  in  17 14,  England  had  enjoyed  growing 
material  prosperity.  Perhaps  never  were  so  few  persons 
in  distress  about  the  questions,  "  What  shall  we  eat, 
what  shall  we  drink,  and  wherewithal  shall  we  be 
clothed  ?  "  But,  sad  to.  say,  perhaps  never  were  so  many 
who  regarded  these  as  the  only  questions  worth  asking. 
The  ruling  classes  seemed  to  live  the  life  of  the  senses, 
and  it  would  soil  our  souls  to  depict  the  coarse  animal- 
ism of  the  poor  untaught  multitudes.  Pastors  were 
asleep.  There  were  many  ab'e  defenders  of  the  faith, 
and  the  Church  of  England  never  had  more  eminent 
bishops ;  but,  as  Leslie  Stephen  says,  "  Dull,  duller, 
dullest,"  make  a  sufficiently  critical  vocabulary  to  describe 
the  merits  of  ordinary  sermons.  Spiritual  doctors  marked 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


the  malady,  but  gave  the  wrong  prescription.  Episcopal 
charges  suggested  the  study  of  Juvenal,  as  likely  to 
make  preachers  more  lively.  Shenstone  said,  "  I  should 
think  the  clergy  might  distinguish  themselves  by  preach- 
ing on  the  ordinary  virtues  extolled  by  the  classics,  in- 
troducing the  ornamental  flourishes  of  Horace,  &c." 
We,  who  have  no  party  bias,  may  be  disposed  to  reject 
indignantly,  as  mere  satirical  extravagances,  pictures  of 
clerical  life  that  we  find  in  the  pages  of  Fielding  and 
other  writers  of  the  time  ;  but  "  satire  never  creates  the 
sentiment  to  which  it  appeals,"  and,  if  there  had  been  no 
likeness  in  these  sketches,  they  would  never  have  been 
recognised.  Their  truth  to  life  becomes  more  certain 
with  increased  inquiry.  From  a  letter  written  by  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Carter  to  Mrs.  Delany,  we  learn  that  peers 
were  known  to  sell  their  chaplaincies  at  prices  varying 
from  twelve  to  twenty  guineas.  In  a  letter  lately  sent 
with  the  Winchelsea  MSS.  to  the  British  Museum,  dated 
"3rd  Nov.  1729,"  a  clergyman  who  had  been  promised 
a  certain  presentation  by  the  late  Earl,  being  "  the  first 
person  picked  upon,"  thus  complains :  "  A  wife  was 
never  whispered  to  me  until  a  day  after  my  lord's  death ; 
then  indeed  my  lady  herself  told  me  that  her  maid 
Morfee  was  always  intended  to  go  along  with  the  living, 
and  that,  if  I  intended  to  make  her  ladyship  my  friend,  I 
must  not  refuse  the  offer."  1  Perhaps  the  depreciated 
condition  of  the  universities  just  then  may  help  to 
account  for  such  shameful  disrespect  to  the  clergy ;  but, 
whatever  the  cause,  one  effect  of  their  lowered  influence 
was  their  utter  inadequacy  to  meet  the  spiritual  needs  of 
the  day.  It  would  be  easy  to  fill  a  chapter  with  quota- 
tions from  such  men  as  Joseph  Stennett,  Watts,  Wallin, 
and  Guyse,  to  prove  that  the  spiritual  life  of  the  Dissenters 
was  just  as  low.  Exceptions  of  course  there  were ;  but 
very  often,  at  the  best,  the  dissenting  minister  was  a 
respectable  and  scholarly  man,  who,  in  language  clear, 
neat,  and  reasonable,  discoursed  about  prosperity,  adver- 


'  Uncalendare  1  MS.  in  the  Winchelsea  Tapers. 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


85 


sity,  and  Deity;  who  wrote  books  now  sapless  as  the 
shelves  they  stand  on,  who  preached  pamphlets  that 
might  have  been  preached  from  the  steps  of  a  synagogue 
or  the  floor  of  a  mosque  ;  who  could  have  said — 

M  With  sacred  Dulness  ever  in  my  view, 
Sleep,  at  my  bidding,  creeps  from  pew  to  pew," 

and  whose  voice  would  rumble  dismally  through  the 
chill,  half  empty,  misty  meeting-house,  but  was  never 
heard  crying  in  the  wilderness  outside. 

All  this  while  two  men — men  made  for  the  times — even 
without  knowing  it  themselves,  were  being  divinely  raised 
up  and  trained  to  be  God's  two  great  revivalists;  each  one 
to  fill  an  office  which  no  church  had  ready  prepared  for 
him,  and  to  do  a  work  which  was  after  no  known  type. 
Outside  the  churches  then  existing,  Wesley  was  to  found 
Methodism,  in  its  way  the  most  splendid  miracle  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  wrought  through  one  man  since  the  day  of 
Pentecost.  Inside  the  Churches,  and  in  quite  another 
way,  Whitefield  was  the  instrument  of  a  work  scarcely 
less  wonderful,  foi  though  he  organised  no  society,  and 
left  his  name  on  nothing  structural,  his  preaching  was 
made  mighty  through  God  to  strike  new  life  into  old  systems, 
and  to  make  what  is  called  Calvinism  more  evangelical ; 
so  that  more  or  less,  directly  or  indirectly  most  Protestant 
communities  are  this  day  the  better  because  he  has  lived. 

Before  these  good  men  entered  upon  their  memorable 
mission,  Doddridge  was  engaged  in  his  own  department 
of  the  same  work.  As  he  had  no  call,  he  had  no  qualifi- 
cation to  be  like  one  of  them,  a  gospel  propagandist, 
hurrying  from  place  to  place,  and  setting  the  nation  in  a 
blaze;  but  much  true  gospel  service  must  always  be 
residentiary ;  much  must  even  be  sedentary.  Much 
of  his  own  work  was  settled  within  such  limits  as  these. 
But  though  stationed  in  the  town,  he  seemed  to  diffuse 
his  presence  through  the  country.  He  did  so  personally, 
sometimes  by  addressing  two  or  three  rustic  assemblies 
in  a  week,  and  devoting  half  his  annual  holiday  to  evan- 


S6 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


gelical  excursions;  he  did  so  by  appointing  members  of 
his  church,  who  were  influential  from  social  standing  as 
well  as  from  character,  to  read  sermons  in  cottages  licensed 
for  the  purpose,  and  in  a  letter  to  the  Bishop  of  London, 
he  said,  "  There  are  few  villages  round  Northampton  in 
which  we  have  not  some  place  licensed ;  "  he  did  so 
mainly  through  his  young  representatives.  The  seniors 
preached,  and  the  juniors  did  good  service  by  their  "re- 
petitions." "They  keep  up,"  said  he  in  1737,  "four  or 
five  weekly  'repetitions'  in  the  neighbouring  towns,  and 
crowds  of  people  constantly  attend  at  each."  Under  his 
own  superintendence  the  more  fervid  of  these  youths 
carried  on  in  some  of  the  villages  a  system  of  house  to 
house  visitation,  and  where  they  found  persons  who  could 
read,  left  them  good  books  or  leaflets. 

In  a  recent  biographical  sketch  of  the  Rev.  James 
Hervey,  it  is  said  that  "he  made  friends  with  a  Mr. 
Darracott,  a  student  of  Dr.  Doddridge's,  and  aided  him 
by  advice  and  otherwise  in  establishing  a  society  similar 
to  that  of  the  Methodists  at  Oxford.  This  made  him 
known  to  Dr.  Doddridge."  We  have  the  original  cor- 
respondence lying  here  before  us,  showing  the  facts  in 
their  real  order. 

One  May  day,  in  1736,  Risdon  Darracott  called  on  a 
poor  member  of  Doddridge's  church,  who  lived  at  Har- 
dingstone,  a  village  two  miles  from  the  town,  when  he 
found  another  visitor  already  in  the  cottage.  This  was 
James  Hervey,  a  young  Oxford  man  who  was  spending 
his  vacation  at  his  father's  parsonage.  Although,  accor- 
ding to  his  own  account  of  himself  given  late  in  his  life, 
this  was  five  years  before  his  real  conversion,  he  was 
already  an  enthusiast,  bent  on  doing  good  to  souls,  and 
would  have  been  glad  to  sit  up  all  night  to  pray  and  talk 
with  any  one  who  could  tell  him  more  than  he  knew  about 
the  "New  Birth."  Each  found  in  the  other  a  kindred 
spirit.  Shortly  after  this  interview,  Darracott  sent  him  a 
present  of  small  books  for  giving  away,  and  wrote  an  ac- 
count of  a  society  which  he  and  some  of  his  fellow  students 
were  forming,  the  object  of  which  appears  to  have  been 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


8? 


a  conference  about  spiritual  life,  the  Bible,  and  Christian 
usefulness,  and  asked  for  his  opinion. 

Hcrvey,  writing  June  3,  said,  "This  cool  morning,  I 
took  a  walk  with  a  design  to  consider  the  scheme  which 
you  are  going  to  set  on  foot.  My  thoughts  were  all 
along  attended  with  abasement  and  admiration  to  per- 
ceive you  having  recourse  to  and  consulting  me,  when 
you  daily  converse  with  gentlemen  who  are  far  my 
superiors  in  wisdom  and  knowledge,  but  especially  since 
you  have  the  happiness  of  living  under  the  same  roof 
with  the  judicious  and  devout  doctor.  Yet,  sir,  I  fear  I 
am  one  of  those  who,  as  the  inspired  apostle  says,  are 
'blind  and  cannot  see  afar  off.'"  Then  followed  a  long 
and  loving  letter  to  encourage  the  project.  Dated,  "Lin- 
coln College,  Oxford,  Sept.  1,"  we  find  another  communi- 
cation from  him  to  his  new  friend,  in  which  he  thanks 
him  for  a  further  instalment  of  tracts  for  distribution,  and 
for  "an  animating  and  instructive  letter,"  which  seems 
to  have  been  on  the  subject  of  evangelism;  for  he  says, 
f  You  have  many  valuable  opportunities  of  getting  what 
I  find  to  be  very  necessary  for  a  promoter  of  piety — the 
wisdom  of  the  serpent.  The  worthy  doctor,  who  is  so 
well  acquainted  with  books  and  men,  can  tell  you  what 
are  the  most  likely  baits  to  catch  souls;  what  pious 
and  affectionate  fraud  the  apostle  meant  when  he  said,  'I 
have  caught  you  with  guile.'"  Further  on  he  says,  "  I 
employ  every  day  an  hour  or  more  (which  I  think  is  as 
much  time  as  I  can  spare  from  my  studies)  with  some 
well-inclined  people  of  the  poorer  sort.  We  read  Mr. 
Henry  on  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  pray  together.  There 
is  one  set  in  one  part  of  the  city,  and  another  in  another. 
I  meet  at  a  neighbour's  house.  Oh  that  I  could  open  my 
mouth  as  he  did,  so  boldly  and  so  powerfully  !  who  will 
give  me  a  little  portion  of  that  knowledge  which  he  had  in 
the  mysteries  of  the  gospel !  that  I  may  djclare  them 
to  the  people,  clearly  and  convincingly.  Above  all,  who 
will  give  me  some  of  that  humble  zeal,  that  sacred  and 
illustrious  fervour  which  animated  him  who  laboured 
more  abundantly  than  all  the  apostles  !    I  am  pre- 


ss 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


paring  to  enter  into  holy  orders,  and  to  take  upon  me 
the  work  of  the  ministry,  that  great,  wonderful,  and 
important  work.  So  that  I  have  the  utmost  reason  to 
cry  out  as  the  distressed  fishermen  did  to  their  partners, 
'  Come  and  help  us.'  Help  me  with  your  prayers  to  the 
Lord  God  my  Saviour,  that  I  'may  receive  the  Holy 
Ghost  not  many  days  hence,'  by  the  laying  on  of  hands; 
even  '  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding,  the  Spirit 
of  counsel  and  might,  the  Spirit  of  knowledge  and  fear  of 
the  Lord  ; '  that  He  may  be  in  me,  rest  upon  me,  and 
abide  with  me  for  ever,  making  me  fit,  every  way  qualified, 
and  thoroughly  furnished  for  this  sacred  function.  .  .  . 
Dear  sir,  pray  give  my  humble  service  and  best  thanks  to 
the  Doctor,  and  beg  of  him,  when  he  is  in  the  acceptable 
time,  to  remember  me  who  am  in  the  time  of  need.  If 
he  has  any  word  of  exhortation,  but  especially  any  trea- 
sures of  instruction  proper  to  a  candidate  for  the  minis- 
terial office,  how  glad  should  I  be  if  he  would  please  to 
impart  them,  and  how  gratefully  should  such  a  favour  be 
always  acknowledged  by  his  and  your  affectionate  servant 
and  brother  in  Jesus  Christ,  J.  Hervey." 

The  work,  which  in  this  letter  he  speaks  of  assisting, 
was  that  of  the  Oxford  Methodists — the  society  in  the  for- 
mation of  which  Wesley  had  begun  his  marvellous  career. 
He,  his  brother  Charles,  and  Benjamin  Ingham,  were  at 
this  time  in  Georgia.  George  Whitefield,  another  leader, 
had  just  been  ordained,  and  most  of  the  original  leaders 
had  left  the  place ;  but  the  society  still  existed,  and  did 
its  work  with  spirit.  Its  members  were  young  men  of 
the  university,  who  bound  themselves  by  rules  strict  as 
those  of  a  monastic  brotherhood,  respecting  with  severe 
precision  the  canons  and  decretals  of  mediaeval  antiquity, 
keeping  all  the  fasts,  communing  every  week,  and  being 
careful  that  the  wine  should  be  mixed  with  water.  They 
lived  on  next  to  nothing,  that  they  might  have  the  more 
to  consecrate.  With  cloudy  views  of  the  gospel,  but 
with  motives  pure  as  fire,  they  taught  neglected  children, 
visited  the  prisons  and  the  poorest  of  the  poor,  to  give 
relief,  to  read,  pray,  and  distribute  good  books,  which  we 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


So 


should  not  be  at  all  surprised  to  find  were  in  some  degree 
supplied  to  these  young  ritualists  by  our  young  Puritans, 
neither  party  being  perfect  in  knowledge. 

On  the  21st  of  October  in  the  same  year,  Risdon  Dar- 
racott  went  to  Brixworth,  a  village  a  few  miles  from 
Northampton,  to  deliver  a  "  repetition,"  and  hold  a 
meeting  for  prayer  in  the  cottage  of  a  poor  man  named 
William  Beck,  who  had  earnestly  desired  it.  Just  before 
the  service  began,  the  house  was  surrounded  by  tipsy 
clowns,  some  of  whom,  being  "gentlemen  by  Act  of  Par- 
liament," were  much  respected.  They  hammered  at  the 
door,  smashed  the  windows,  and  begged  to  be  intro- 
duced to  the  preacher.  When  Beck  stepped  outside  to 
quiet  them,  they  presented  a  gun  to  his  breast,  and 
forced  him  back  again.  However,  hearing  that  the  con- 
stables were  at  the  George  Inn  at  "  a  leet  court,"  they 
both  ventured  out  and  ran  to  them  for  help,  being  pelted 
with  mud,  sticks,  and  stones,  all  the  way.  Help  was 
refused  ;  they  were  hustled  into  the  road  again,  and  were 
again  pelted.  The  preacher  took  refuge  in  a  house,  and 
while  the  rioters  were  clamouring  for  him  on  one  side  of 
it,  he  was  lowered  out  of  a  window  on  the  other,  as  it 
was  afterwards  said,  "  like  St.  Paul  let  down  in  a  basket 
from  the  wall  of  Damascus."  While  Darracott  was  get- 
ting safely  away,  Beck  was  seized,  his  coat  was  rent  from 
his  back,  and  he  was  nearly  smothered  in  slime  by  being 
dragged  through  a  horse-pond.  Next  day  the  parties 
came  over  to  Doddridge,  who  obtained  a  warrant,  by 
virtue  of  which  four  of  the  ringleaders  were  carried  before 
a  neighbouring  justice.  We  give  the  conclusion  in  the 
words  of  Doddridge's  account  to  Dr.  Clark  :  "  He  treated 
Beck  as  if  he  had  been  a  felon  ;  laid  all  the  blame  on 
him  ;  declared  it  was  impudence  to  call  these  things  an 
assault ;  and  forced  him,  by  threats  of  imprisonment,  to 
subscribe  to  a  very  defective  information,  against  many 
articles  of  which  he  protested — and  at  last  allowed  him 
two  shillings  damages  to  mend  his  windows,  and  two  for 
the  warrant.  On  this,  sir,  1  wrote  to  Sir  Thomas  Abney, 
who  immediately  roused  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  and 


go 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


by  proper  steps  procured  rules  of  court  on  full  affidavits 

against  nine  of  the  rioters,  with  Mr.  W  ,  and  they  are 

now  preparing  for  a  defence.  All  the  Tory  gentlemen  1 
join  in  this  scandalous  cause,  and,  trusting  to  a  Tory 
sheriff,  conclude  that,  against  the  strongest  evidence,  they 
shall  obtain  a  verdict  from  a  Tory  jury,  as  the  cause  is  to  be 
tried  in  the  county,  and  I  much  fear  they  will  succeed."2 

This  case  continued  for  a  long  time  to  be  a  source  of 
vexation  ;  however,  in  the  end,  through  the  interest  of  the 
Duke  of  Montague  and  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  together 
with  the  action  of  Sir  John  Robinson,  the  new  High 
Sheriff,  some  justice  was  done  ;  but  the  particulars  are 
not  now  at  hand,  and  our  present  object  is  only  to  call 
attention  to  the  part  of  Doddridge  and  his  students  in 
evangelistic  works  and  trials  in  the  time  of  movements 
that  ended  in  the  great  revival.  Just  at  this  time  Darra- 
cott  and  Hervey  were  in  the  most  constant  fraternal 
correspondence.  Through  the  latter,  who  has  been  called 
"  the  Isocrates  of  Methodism,"  the  Oxford  Methodists 
heard  of  the  Brixworth  adventure.  We  are  sure  that 
there  was  at  least  a  sympathetic  thread  of  connection 
between  them  and  the  academy. 

We  find  another  instance  of  contact  with  Oxford 
Methodism  thus  given  in  Doddridge's  Journal,  September 
10,  1737:  "I  had  this  day  the  great  pleasure  of 
beginning  an  acquaintance  with  Mr.   ,  a  clergy- 
man of  the  Church  of  England,  in  whom  I  think  I  saw 
as  much  of  God  as  in  any  person  that  in  the  whole  period 
of  my  life  I  have  ever  known.  He  was  one  of  those 
who  went  over  into  Georgia  to  propagate  the  gospel  there. 
.  .  .  He  told  me  that  God  was  beginning  His  work,  not 
only  at  Oxford,  where  it  was  much  advanced,  but  likewise 
in  many  other  parts  ;  and,  indeed,  expressed  such  a  sense 
of  Divine  things  in  his  own  heart,  such  dependence  upon 
the  Spirit,  such  deep  and  experimental  religion,  that  it  was 
almost  unparalleled.  We  both  prayed  with  our  friends 

1  Tory  was  then  the  name  of  the  party  disaffected  to  the  House  of 
Hanover. 

1  Doddridge's  "Correspondence,"  vol.  iii.  p.  220. 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


91 


before  we  parted ;  and  I  must  say,  that  I  hardly  know 
any  conversation  or  any  occurrence  that  has  brought  my 
soul  nearer  to  God,  or  has  made  me  more  fit  for  my  ever- 
lasting rest."  There  is  a  long  report  of  what  this  "  dear 
brother  in  Christ  "  reported  of  the  great  work  of  God 
done  through  the  Moravians  ;  and  the  statement  ends 
thus  :  "  He  added  some  remarkable  circumstances  of  his 
own  story  of  the  wonderful  manner  in  which  God  had 
inclined  his  heart  to  undertake  that  work  among  the 
Americans,  in  which  I  verily  believe  God  will  make  him 
an  apostle ;  and  may  the  blessing  of  God  go  along  with 
him." 

The  editor  of  the  "Diary  and  Correspondence"  says, 
in  a  note,  "  A  blank  is  left  in  place  of  the  name  here, 
but  the  reader  will  readily  discover  that  the  clergyman 
in  question  could  be  no  other  than  the  celebrated  John 
Wesley."  No  ;  Mr.  Wesley  was  still  in  Georgia.  It  was 
Mr.  Benjamin  Ingham.  He  had  been  Mr.  Wesley's  com- 
panion in  spiritual  work  first  in  Oxford,  next  in  Georgia. 
In  1737  it  was  agreed  by  the  company  that  he  should  go 
to  England  to  obtain  more  help.  We  should  have  hardly 
expected  to  find  this  "Churchman"  of  strictest  type,  for 
such  he  was,  seeking  fellowship  with  a  "  Separatist  " — 
being  his  guest,  or  even  knowing  of  his  existence ;  but 
the  Missioners  had  correspondence  with  or  about  James 
Hervey  during  the  previous  year,  and  through  him  they 
probably  had  some  information  about  the  sympathy  of 
the  Northampton  tutor. 

At  last  the  hour  came,  and  the  men.  Whitefield  was 
the  first  to  strike  a  great  sensation.  In  May,  1739,  two 
of  Doddridge's  correspondents  heard  him  on  Kennington 
Common.  Such  preaching  was  a  new  thing  under  the 
sun.  You  crossed  the  water  in  a  boat  from  Westminster, 
just  glancing  at  the  workmen  driving  the  piles  for  the 
new  bridge.  You  walked  through  a  mile  of  market 
gardens  until  you  reached  a  great  green  waste — this  was 
the  common.  It  had  been  for  ages  a  scene  for  the  exe- 
cution of  London  criminals.  It  was  shunned  by  night,  as 
haunted  ;  and  by  day,  certain  terrible  things  that  swung 


92 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


in  chains  seemed  to  make  a  silence  and  to  kill  the  sun- 
shine. Yet  this  dismal  solitude  was  one  of  Whitefield's 
favourite  "  open-air  cathedrals,"  and  here,  during  the  first 
fortnight  of  that  particular  month,  he  preached  many 
times  to  ten,  twenty,  tiiirty  thousand  people,  who  stood 
in  the  rain  spell-bound,  the  wet  wind  blowing  his  words 
this  way  and  that  way.  He  once  computed  the  congre- 
gation at  fifty  thousand.  The  ghastly  accessories  of  the 
scene  were  all  turned  to  account,  and  made  to  enhance 
the  power  of  his  message.  Pointing  to  a  gallows  where 
three  men  were  hanging  in  chains,  he  said,  "  If  you  want 
to  know  what  wages  the  devil  gives  his  servants,  you  need 
not  stir  from  this  place  where  you  now  are.  Look  yonder  !" 
His  thunder  was  heard  for  nearly  a  mile.  This  year 
Wesley  was  stirred  up  by  Whitefield  to  begin  open-air 
preaching.  "  I  could  scarce  reconcile  myself  at  first," 
said  he,  "  to  this  strange  way  of  preaching  in  the  fields,  of 
which  he  set  me  an  example  on  Sunday,  having  been  all 
my  lifetime  (till  very  lately)  so  tenacious  of  every  point 
relating  to  decency  and  order,  that  I  should  have  thought 
the  saving  of  souls  almost  a  sin  if  it  had  not  been  done 
in  a  church."  A  grand  faith  made  men,  feeling  all  the  re- 
finement of  scholars  and  gentlemen,  habitually  ready  and 
willing  to  mount  a  waggon,  give  out  a  psalm,  gather  a 
mob,  and  then  preach  Christ.  A  grand  work  of  God  in 
the  land  honoured  this  grand  faith. 

Knowing  what  we  do  of  our  friend,  we  should  have 
expected  him  to  hail  these  servants  of  God  with  great  en- 
thusiasm ;  instead  of  this,  however,  he  for  a  time  seems 
to  have  shown  them  only  courteous  respect.  He  spoke 
of  Mr.  Whitefield  with  qualified  admiration,  and  even  so 
late  as  June,  1743,  of  Mr.  Wesley  as  if  his  visit  to  the 
neighbourhood  of  Mr.  Witton,  his  late  pupil,  might  be 
looked  upon  as  a  trial  of  his  faith.    Why  was  this? 

Perhaps  one  reason  for  this  hesitation  was  the  high 
churchmanship  of  these  revivalists  at  that  early  period. 
It  is  not  certain  that  Wesley  would  then  have  accepted 
his  ministerial  assistance  as  such,  even  if  it  had  been 
proferred.    While  in  Georgia  he  held  the  doctrines  of 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


93 


Apostolic  Succession,  believed  that  no  one  could  ad- 
minister the  Sacraments  who  was  not  episcopally  ordained, 
had  excluded  Dissenters  from  the  Holy  Communion 
because  they  not  been  properly  baptized ;  and  by  this 
date  he  had  not  announced  any  change  in  his  beliefs.  His 
brother  Charles  was  even  more  rigid  in  this  respect  than 
himself.  Mr.  Roffey,  writing  to  Doddridge  in  1749, 
complains  of  him  for  calling  dissenting  ministers  "a 
tribe  of  priests,  unholy  and  unsent."  Whitefield  soon 
grew  out  of  his  ecclesiastical  difficulties  ;  but  even  he, 
in  the  year  before  he  began  this  open-air  evangelism, 
had  refused  to  officiate  at  the  funeral  of  a  person  who 
in  his  opinion  had  not  been  baptized,  yet  had  made  no 
objection  to  read  the  office  over  a  baptized  soldier  who 
had  killed  himself  by  drinking;  and,  though  he  worshipped 
much  with  Dissenters,  was  wont  to  plead  that  this  was 
no  violation  of  the  canons  and  the  Act  of  Uniformity, 
which  referred  to  public  worship  only ;  and  that  when 
"  the  societies "  met,  it  was  not  for  public  worship,  but 
only  an  imitation  of  the  primitive  Christians,  who  continued 
with  one  accord  "  in  the  temple,"  and  yet  "  in  every  house 
they  ceased  not  to  preach  and  teach  Jesus  Christ."  1  Per- 
haps our  Dissenter  hardly  liked  such  ecclesiastical  refine- 
ments. Other  things  may  have  also  disposed  him  to  hold 
himself  in  some  reserve,  such  as  the  remarkable  nervous 
phenomena  which  generally  attended  the  preaching  of  Mr. 
Wesley,  all  the  more  inexplicable  because  that  preaching 
was  marked  by  an  earnest  calmness  by  no  means  appeal- 
ing to  the  nerves.  Joseph  Hughes  of  Battersea,  when 
he  heard  him  preach  many  years  later,  was  reminded,  by 
his  good  sense  and  pithy  language,  of  Benjamin  Franklin.2 
Yet,  while  he  was  making  his  plain  statements  of  truth, 
robust,  insensitive  men  would  often  fall  down  in  an 
instant,  as  if  thunderstruck,  upon  the  ground,  where  they 
would  roll,  plunge,  kick,  and  shout ;  and  after  hours  of 
agony,  enter  into  exquisite  peace.  There  were  also  many 
things  in  Whitefield  that  hurt  his  sensitive  respect  for 

*  Acts  ii.  46,  v.  42. 

*  "  Life  of  Joseph  Hughes,  M.A.,"  p.  82. 


94 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


the  legislation  of  decorum.  He  thought  that  sometimes 
he  was  crude,  rash,  injudicious,  and,  to  use  his  own 
phrase,  chargeable  with  "saucy  familiarities  with  the 
blessed  God."  Added  to  all,  there  was  the  apprehension 
which  he  felt  in  common  with  other  quiet  workers,  of 
interruption  to  his  own  good  work.  Whatever  the  good 
of  Methodism  in  the  long  run,  there  was  often  a  certain 
'  evil  from  it  just  at  first.  It  was  always  found  that  just 
after  its  appearance  at  any  place,  the  weak  and  excitable 
Christians  there,  who  of  course  thought  themselves  more 
spiritual  than  their  brethren,  though  in  fact  they  were 
immeasurably  less  so,  would  be  sure  to  feel  a  craving  for 
stimulants,  a  disrespect  for  order,  and  an  impatience  of 
instruction.  James  Watt  once  said  of  his  new  steam-horse, 
"  the  velocity,  violence,  magnitude,  and  horrible  noise  of 
the  engine  give  unusual  satisfaction  to  all  beholders." 
Mr.  Boulton  continued,  "  By-the-bye,  the  noise  seems  to 
convey  great  ideas  of  power  to  the  ignorant,  who  seem 
to  be  no  more  taken  with  modest  merit  in  an  engine 
than  in  a  man."  1  So,  in  the  machinery  of  religious  use- 
fulness, many  good  people  fancy  that  nothing  is  doing 
but  when  the  steam  is  hissing  at  every  rivet,  and  never  do 
they  feel  so  hopeful  about  the  train  as  when  it  is  off  the 
line.  This  Doddridge  afterwards  found  to  his  sorrow. 
Upon  the  whole,  he  was  at  first  inclined  to  be  cautious, 
but  although  always  disliking  certain  merely  human 
accidents  of  the  mission,  he  saw  that  the  mission  itself  was 
gloriously  Divine,  and  rejoiced  to  be  identified  with  its 
agency. 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  May  21,  1739,  that  is, 
in  the  very  month  of  this  preaching  already  mentioned  at 
Kennington  Common,  Whitefield  reached  Northampton, 
where,  according  to  his  own  journal,  he  "was  most  cour- 
teously received  by  Dr.  Doddridge,  master  of  the  academy 
there,  and  at  seven  o'clock  preached  on  a  common  to  about 
3,000  hearers."  Later  in  the  year,  the  day  of  the  month 
omitted,  we  find  a  letter  of  his  supposed  to  be  addressed 

*  "  Quarterly  Review,"  vol.  civ.  p.  442,  Art.  James  Watt. 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


95 


to  the  students,5  in  which  the  following  words  occur  : 
"Though  you  are  not  of  the  Church  of  England,  yet, 
if  you  are  persuaded  in  your  own  minds  of  the  truth  of 
the  way  in  which  you  walk,  I  leave  it.  Whether  Confor- 
mists or  Nonconformists,  our  main  concern  should  be  to 
be  assured  that  we  are  called  and  taught  of  God,  for  none 
but  such  are  fitted  to  minister  in  holy  things.  It  rejoiced 
me  much  to  see  such  dawnings  of  grace  in  your  souls, 
only  I  thought  that  most  of  you  bowed  down  too  much 
with  a  servile  fear  of  man ;  but  as  the  love  of  the 
Creator  increases,  the  fear  of  the  creature  will  decrease. 
Unless  your  hearts  are  freed  from  worldly  hopes  and 
worldly  fears,  you  will  never  speak  boldly  as  you  ought  to 
speak.  The  good  old  Puritans,  I  believe,  never  preached 
better  than  when  they  were  in  danger  of  being  taken  to 
prison  as  soon  as  they  had  finished  their  sermons  ;  and,  I 
am  persuaded,  unless  you  go  forth  with  the  same  temper, 
you  will  never  preach  with  the  same  demonstration  of 
the  Spirit  and  power.  Study  your  hearts  as  well  as 
your  books ;  ask  yourselves  again  and  again,  if  you 
would  preach  Christ  if  you  were  sure  to  lay  down  your 
lives  for  so  doing." 

Whitefield's  visit  seemed  to  have  a  quickening  effect 
on  Doddridge.  His  sympathy  with  the  evangelist  grew 
rapidly.  Most  of  us  are  familiar  with  a  hymn  of  his 
beginning  thus  : 

"  Arise,  my  tenderest  thoughts,  arise, 
To  torrents  melt  my  streaming  eyes  ! 
And  thou,  my  heart,  with  anguish  feel 
Those  evils  which  thou  canst  not  heal  ! " 

Many  hymns  have  more  charms  in  the  thought,  and  more 
melodious  liquids  in  the  language,  but  this  was  not  so 
much  a  poem  as  a  cry.  Perhaps  he  was  unconscious  of 
the  words.  There  was  a  vivid  moment  when,  like  a  seer, 
he  saw  mad  millions  of  sinners — was  in  an  agony  to  save 
them,  felt  desperate  with  a  sense  of  helplessness,  anil 
cried  out  thus.  Who  could  criticise  a  wail  over  lost  souls, 

1  This  is  Mr.  Tyerman's  opinion,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  doubt. 


96 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


and  where  have  we  heard  one  more  piercing  than  this  ? 
It  was  heard  for  the  first  time  on  June  13,  1739,  at  what 
is  now  the  Unitarian  Chapel  at  Leicester,  after  a  sermon 
on  the  text,  "  I  beheld  the  transgressors  and  was  grieved 
because  they  kept  not  thy  law  "  The  preaching  must 
have  been  tremendous  when  such  a  hymn  was  made  to 
match  it,  thrown  off,  as  his  custom  was,  when  he  had 
finished  his  study  for  the  sermon,  to  be  sung  at  the  close. 
Colonel  Gardiner  was  in  the  congregation,  and,  service 
being  over,  he  went  into  the  vestry  and  "  embraced  "  the 
preacher,  and  the  two  men,  who  had  never  met  before, 
never  in  spirit  parted  afterwards. 

Sure  as  law,  healthy  interest  in  missionary  work  at 
home  will  grow  into  a  passion  for  foreign  missions. 
The  second  is  but  an  extension  of  the  first.  With  richest 
tinge  and  warmest  glow,  light  strikes  the  near  object,  but 
only  on  its  way  to  the  remote.  We  are  not  surprised, 
therefore,  to  find  that  as  soon  as  the  idea  was  presented 
to  him  he  was  charmed  with  it.  On  December  22nd,  of 
the  year  in  which  he  wrote  the  hymn  just  noticed,  Sir 
John  Thorold,  having  received  a  Latin  letter  from  Count 
Zinzendorf,  giving  the  story  of  the  Moravian  mission, 
then  recent,  sent  it  on  to  him,  introducing  himself  with 
fraternal  words,  ending  thus  :  "  I  will  not  any  longer 
detain  you  from  the  pleasure  I  am  persuaded  you  will 
receive  by  reading  the  joyful  account  that  holy,  laborious 
servant  gives  of  the  course  of  the  glorious  gospel  in  divers 
parts  of  the  earth,  than  to  desire  an  interest  in  your 
prayers,  and  to  be  esteemed,  reverend  sir,  your  affectionate 
friend."  1  His  soul  was  now  fired  with  new  enthusiasm. 
Shortly  after  this  we  find  him  in  Latin  correspondence 
with  the  Count,  who,  on  his  next  visit  to  England,  was 
his  much-honoured  visitor.  In  1741  the  Rev.  Benjamin 
Ingham  2  wrote  to  inform  Doddridge  that  he  had  been 

«  Wilson  MSS. 

2  I  take  this  opportunity  of  stating  that  a  letter  written  May  8, 
1742,  in  which  Mr  Ingham's  pritstism  is  strongly  denounced,  was 
not  written  l>y  Doddridge,  as  supposed  by  the  esteemed  Mr.  Teiy- 
man,  but  by  the  Kev.  F.  YVadsworth. 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


97 


chosen  a  "  Corresponding  Member  of  the  Society  for  the 
Furtherance  of  the  Gospel."  In  the  reply  to  this  he 
said,  "  Glory  be  to  Him  who  causes  His  gospel  to 
triumph,  and  magnifies  the  riches  of  His  grace  in  getting 
Himself  the  victory,  by  soldiers  who  out  of  weakness  are 
made  strong.  If  Christ  raise  to  Himself  a  seed  among 
the  Negroes  and  the  Hottentots,  I  will  honour  them 
above  all  the  politest  nations  upon  earth  that  obey  not 
His  glorious  gospel."  1  He  was  accustomed  to  report  the 
Moravian  missionary  work  at  his  church  meetings. 

Still  in  the  same  year,  that  is,  first  on  June  30,  i74r, 
at  a  meeting  of  ministers  at  Denton  in  Norfolk,  next  on 
October  1 5th,  at  a  similar  meeting  at  Kettering,  he  delivered 
a  rousing  sermon  on  li  The  Evil  and  Danger  of  Neglect- 
ing Souls."    It  was  a  rush  of  thoughts 

"  fierily  furnaced 
In  the  blast  of  a  life  that  had  struggled  in  earnest." 

The  effect  was  great.  In  reference  to  the  first  occasion 
a  minister  who  was  present  says  :  "  A  remarkable  day 
indeed,  when  the  presence  of  God  filled  our  assembly  ; 
and  not  myself  only,  but  many  others  have  with  pleasure 
owned  it  was  one  of  the  best  days  of  our  lives.  Though 
the  season  was  hot,  the  auditory  very  much  crowded,  and 
between  four  and  five  hours  spent  in  the  public  worship, 
none  thought  the  hours  tedious  and  wished  for  a  dismis- 
sion."2 The  sermon  was  in  each  instance  followed  by  a 
ministerial  conference  on  the  best  means  for  the  advance- 
ment of  Christ's  kingdom.  His  suggestions  are  given  in 
the  dedication  to  the  printed  sermon,  and  include  the 
following  plan  for  aiding  missions  : 

"  That  pious  people  unite  as  members  of  a  society  ; 
that  they  daily  offer  up  some  earnest  prayer  for  the  pro- 
pagation of  the  gospel  in  the  world,  especially  among  the 
heathen  nations ;  that  they  attend  four  times  a  year  for 
solemn  prayer ;  that  some  time  be  then  spent  in  review- 

1  "Memoirs  of  James  Ilutton,"  p.  60. 
9  Frost's  Funeral  Sermon  lor  Doddridge. 

8 


98 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


ing  the  promises  relating  to  the  establishment  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom  in  the  world  ;  that  any  important 
information  of  the  progress  of  the  gospel  from  foreign 
lands  be  communicated  at  these  quarterly  meetings  ;  that 
each  member  contribute  something  towards  supporting 
the  expense  of  sending  missionaries  abroad,  printing 
Bibles  and  other  useful  books  in  foreign  languages ; 
establishing  schools  for  the  instruction  of  the  ignorant, 
and  the  like."  1 

In  this  scheme  of  an  auxiliary  for  the  foreign  spread  of 
the  gospel,  began  our  modern  mode  of  carrying  out  the 
Saviour's  great  missionary  law.  Each  Missionary  Society 
is  but  an  aggregate  of  auxiliaries  like  the  one  here  sug- 
gested. Our  societies,  whose  united  labours  have  been 
crowned  with  a  measure  of  success,  not  the  less  wonderful 
because  it  is  sometimes  ungratefully  denied,  seem  to  have 
sprung  from  this  germ. 

All  this  time  he  betrayed  such  an  increase  of  love  to 
the  Methodists,  that  his  friends  at  length  ventured  upon 
a  gentle  remonstrance,  and  in  a  letter  dated  July  27,  1743, 
Dr.  Jennings  said  to  him,  "  Would  it  be  right  befoi-e  God 
for  Mr.  Coward's  trustees  not  to  be  solicitous  to  have 
their  pupils  trained  up  in  the  words  of  truth  and  sober- 
ness ?  and  would  it  be  right  and  friendly  to  stand  by 
unconcerned  and  see  our  friend  and  tutor's  credit,  and 
consequently  his  usefulness,  so  greatly  impaired,  and  not 
offer  the  best  advice  we  can  to  remedy  an  evil  that  gives 
us  so  deep  a  concern  ?  .  .  .  I  pray  God  that  prudence 
may  guide  you."  These  wise  words  were  wasted.  On 
July  28  he  actually  took  part  in  services  at  Whitefield's 
Tabernacle  ! 2  Then  good  Dr.  Watts  was  constrained  to 
write  :  "lam  sorry  that  since  your  departure  I  have  had 
many  questions  asked  me  about  your  preaching  and 
praying  at  the  Tabernacle,  and  of  sinking  the  character 
of  a  minister,  and  especially  of  a  tutor,  among  the  Dis- 
senters so  low  thereby.  I  find  many  of  your  friends 
entertain  this  idea  ;  but  I  can  give  no  answer,  as  not 
1  "Works,"  vol.  iii.  p.  229. 

a  Tyerinan's  "  Life  of  Whitefield,"  vol.  ii.  p.  72. 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


99 


knowing  how  much  you  have  been  engaged  there.  I 
pray  God  to  guard  us  from  every  temptation."  1 

Early  in  October  the  infatuated  man  went  so  far  as  to 
allow  Whitefield  to  preach  in  his  pulpit!  This  raised  a 
hurricane.  Reproaches  from  London,  Bristol,  Exeter, 
and  other  places,  came  storming  in  upon  him.  The 
trustees  were  anxious.  Mr.  Nathaniel  Neale,  who  appears 
to  have  been  somewhat  "  rational  "  in  his  proclivities, 
seemed  to  be  much  tortured  in  his  mind  between  great 
respect  for  the  offender  and  burning  indignation  at  the 
offence.  In  this  spirit  he  wrote  two  letters  of  remon- 
strance as  long  as  pamphlets.  In  one  of  them  he  said  : 
"There  are  letters  shown  about  town  from  several 
ministers  in  the  work,  which  make  heavy  complaints  of 
the  disorder  occasioned  by  Whitefield  and  Wesley  in 
those  parts.  One  of  them,  speaking  of  Mr.  Whitefield, 
calls  him  honest,  crazy,  confident  Whitefield  !  These 
letters  likewise  mention  that  some  ministers  there,  who 
were  your  pupils,  have  given  them  countenance  ;  and  you 
can  hardly  conceive  the  disrespect  this  has  occasioned 
several  ministers  and  other  persons  in  town  to  speak  of 
you  with.  Whether  you  are  aware  of  this,  I  know  not ; 
and  I  am  sure  if  I  did  not  esteem  it  a  mark  of  sincere 
friendship,  I  would  not  give  you  the  uneasiness  of  hear- 
ing it."  2 

We  are  inclined  to  wish  that  his  answer  to  such  animad- 
versions had  not  been  so  much  in  the  strain  of  apology  ; 
but,  in  truth,  he  was  not  quite  sure  of  his  ground,  and  was 
not  yet  prepared  to  be  "  out  and  out"  in  his  advocacy  of 
Whitefield.  Many  of  his  sayings  and  doings  were 
contrary  to  his  judgment  and  taste,  but  he  thought  him 
to  be  after  all,  as  he  said,  "  a  flaming  servant  of  Jesus 
Christ,"  and  had  therefore  felt  it  right  to  stand  by  him, 
though  somewhat  timidly.  However,  there  was  no 
timidity  in  his  stand  for  the  Methodists  after  this.  "  Not 
long  after  his  reproof,  Lady  Huntingdon,  Lady  Frances 
Gardiner,  Doddridge,  and  Mr.  Price,  were  dining  with 

1  "  Diary  and  Correspondence,"  vol.  iv.  p.  270. 

3  Ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  289.  . 


100 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


Lady  Abney.  The  conversation  turned  upon  the  remark- 
able religious  movements  of  the  day,  and  all,  from  their 
separate  points  ot  observation,  told  of  the  '  wonderful 
works  of  God  '  which  they  had  seen  and  heard.  '  Such 
are  the  fruits,'  said  the  Doctor,  his  face  brightening  with 
intensity  of  interest,  '  that  will  ever  follow  the  faithful 
proclamation  of  Divine  mercy.  The  Lord  our  God  will 
crown  His  message  with  success,  and  give  it  an  abundant 
entrance  into  the  hearts  of  men.  It  is  a  blessing  that 
such  men  have  been  raised  up.'  " 1 

From  the  year  1741  Whitefield  and  Wesley  had  been 
parted,  and  for  doctrinal  reasons  were  working  in  different 
spheres.  For  a  brief  interval  there  was  anger  between 
them,  then  a  tender  and  life-long  affection.  Doddridge 
had  become  the  warm  friend  of  both,  but  his  knowledge 
of  Wesley  began  latest.  In  1745  we  find  Wesley  on  a 
visit  to  the  academy  and  addressing  the  students.  At 
his  request  he  sent,  on  June  28,  1746,  a  very  long  and 
elaborate  letter  of  advice  as  to  books  suitable  to  the  young 
Methodist  preachers.  In  his  acknowledgment  of  this  MS. 
Wesleyappears  to  have  meekly  invited  his  hank  expression 
of  opinion  as  to  anything  in  his  own  temper  and  conduct 
that  might  lessen  his  usefulness.  Doddridge  said,  "  I 
have  always  esteemed  it  to  be  the  truest  act  of  friendship 
to  use  our  mutual  endeavours  to  render  the  characters  of 
each  other  as  blameless  and  as  valuable  as  possible ;  and 
I  have  never  felt  a  more  affectionate  sense  of  my  obliga- 
tions than  when  those  worthy  persons  who  have  honoured 
me  with  their  correspondence  have  freely  told  me  what 
they  thought  amiss  in  me.  .  .  .  This,  therefore,  dear  sir, 
is  an  office  you  might  reasonably  expect  from  me,  if  I  had 
for  some  time  enjoyed  an  intimate  knowledge  of  you. 
But  it  has  always  been  a  maxim  with  me  never  to  believe 
any  flying  story  to  the  prejudice  of  those  whom  I  had 
apparent  reason  to  esteem,  and  consequently  .  .  .  you 
must  be  contented  to  wait  longer  before  you  receive  that 
office  of  fraternal  love  which  you  ask  from,  reverend  and 


'■'  Lady  Huntingdon  and  her  Friends,"  p.  35. 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


101 


dear  sir,  your  obliged  and  affectionate  brother  and  ser- 
vant." Wesley  had  made  some  comment  on  the  phrase, 
"  faithful  humble  servant,"  with  which  he  had  last  sub- 
scribed himself.  He  therefore  says  in  a  postscript  : 
"  Your  caution  has  suggested  a  thought  to  me — whether 
it  be  modest  to  call  ourselves  humble?  If  the  expression 
means  a  real  readiness  to  serve  in  love  in  anything  low, 
as  in  washing  the  feet  of  another,  I  hope  I  can  say,  '  I 
am  your  humble  servant ; '  but  if  it  mean  one  who  is  in 
all  respects  as  humble  as  he  could  wish,  God  forbid  that 
I  should  arrogate  so  proud  a  title.  In  what  can  I  say  I 
have  already  attained  ?  Only  in  that  I  love  my  Divine 
Master.  I  would  not  have  a  thought  in  my  heart  that  He 
should  disapprove.  I  feel  a  sweetness  in  being  assuredly 
in  His  gracious  hand,  which  all  the  world  cannot  possibly 
afford  ;  and  which  I  really  think  would  make  me  happier 
in  a  dark  dungeon  than  ten  thousand  worlds  could  render 
me  without  it ;  and  therefore  I  love  every  creature  in  the 
earth  that  bears  His  image;  and  I  do  not  except  those 
who  through  ignorance,  rashness,  or  prejudice,  have 
greatly  injured  me."  1 

Much  harm  had  been  done  to  Whitefield's  good  fame 
by  a  kind  of  "  spiritual  lusciousness  "  in  the  style  of  his 
journal,  and  by  other  sins  against  refinement.  Bishop 
Gibson's  charges  against  him  in  his  pastoral  letter  of 
1739  were  founded  on  quotations  of  this  kind.  On 
August  22,  1748,  Whitefield  asked  Doddridge,  Stonehouse, 
and  Hervey  to  revise  his  pages  with  a  view  to  another 
edition.  Doddridge  accepted  this  responsibility,  and  a 
truer  act  of  friendship  could  hardly  have  been  shown. 
He  also  wrote  some  faithful  words  to  him,  which  drew 
forth  on  December  21st,  the  following  reply: 

"  Reverend  and  very  dear  Sir, — I  am  glad,  very  glad 
to  receive  your  letter  dated  November  7th,  though  it  did 
not  reach  me  until  last  night  I  thank  you  for  it  a 
thousand  times  :  it  has  led  me  to  the  throne  of  grace, 
where  I  have  been  crying  '  Lord,  counsel  my  counsellors, 
•  "  Diary  and  Correspondence,"  vol.  iv.  p.  503. 


102 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


and  show  them  what  Thou  wouldst  have  me  to  do  ! '  Was, 
alas  !  how  can  I  be  too  severe  against  myself,  who,  Peter- 
like,  have  cut  off  so  many  ears,  and  by  imprudence 
mixed  with  my  zeal,  have  dishonoured  the  cause  of  Jesus  ! 
I  can  only  look  up  to  Him  who  healed  the  high-priest's 
servant's  ear,  and  say,  '  Lord,  heal  all  the  wounds  my 
unguarded  soul  has  given  ! '  Assure  yourself,  dear  sir, 
everything  I  print  shall  be  revised.  I  have  always  sub- 
mitted my  performances  to  my  friends'  corrections.  Time 
and  experience  ripen  men's  judgment,  and  make  them 
more  solid,  rational,  and  consistent.  Oh  that  this  may  be 
my  case  !  I  thank  you,  dear  sir,  for  your  solemn  charge 
with  respect  to  my  health.  ...  I  trust  that,  by  observing 
the  rules  you  prescribe,  I  shall  live  to  declare  the  works  of 
the  Lord." 

In  Mr.  Neale's  letter  already  quoted,  and  which  was 
written  when  the  outcry  against  Doddridge  for  his 
sympathy  with  Methodism  began,  there  was  a  reference 
to  the  complaints  made  by  his  reverend  friends  in 
Somersetshire  about  "  two  ministers  there,  formerly  his 
pupils,"  who  had  caught  the  same  infection.  It  will  be 
interesting  at  this  point,  and  will  come  fairly  into  our 
plan,  to  inquire  who  these  ministers  were,  and  what  the 
Methodistic  insanity  was  like,  which  had  so  excited  this 
anger.  One  of  the  culprits  was  Mr.  Fawcett,  of  Taunton, 
who  had  been  eminently  successful  there,  but  who,  for 
the  sake  of  greater  service,  was  then  on  the  point  of 
removal  to  Kidderminster ;  the  other  was  our  old  friend 
Mr.  Darracott.  We  have  glimpses  of  them  both  in  the 
following  letter  to  the  latter  written  by  the  Doctor,  March 
3°,  !747  : 

"  I  thank  you,  and,  above  all,  I  thank  God,  for  the 
charming  contents  of  your  letter,  which  I  have  this 
evening  received,  and  which  was  a  most  reviving  cordial 
to  me  after  I  came  out  of  the  pulpit.  ...  I  have  been 
bowing  my  knees  to  the  Father  of  all  mercies  to  return 
Him  my  most  unfeigned  thanks  for  the  signal  honour  He 
is  pleased  to  confer  upon  you  for  the,  I  think  almost 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


I03 


unparalleled,  encouragement  He  is  giving  to  your  ministry, 
very  far  beyond  what  I  can  pretend  to.  But  when  I 
consider  how  very  little  I  deserve,  I  rather  wonder  that 
I  am  not  left  totally  destitute  of  all  success,  than  that  all 
my  wishes  are  not  answered.  I  rejoice  to  observe  the 
humility  with  which  you  express  yourself  in  the  midst  of 
all.  It  is  by  the  grace  of  God  you  are  what  you  are, 
both  with  respect  to  ability  and  success.  It  is  my  hearty 
prayer  that  all  the  gifts,  graces,  and  blessings  of  God's 
Holy  Spirit  may  more  and  more  be  made  to  abound 
towards  you.  I  am  particularly  pleased  with  the  account 
you  give  of  writing  letters  to  some  of  your  people  with 
such  good  success.  Perhaps  it  may  put  me  upon  doing 
the  like.  God  has  made  use  of  your  letters  to  quicken 
as  well  as  to  comfort  me,  and  will  thus,  I  doubt  not, 
quicken  my  prayers  for  you.  Let  yours  for  me,  I  beseech 
you,  be  continued. 

"  Since  I  saw  you,  I  have  made  a  visit  to  dear  Mr. 
Fawcett,  at  Kidderminster,  where,  I  think,  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  reigns  in  the  most  glorious  manner  that  I 
have  anywhere  seen  in  so  large  a  congregation.  God 
crowns  his  labours  in  an  amazing  degree.  He  has  316 
catechumens  of  one  age  and  another.  Old  and  young  are 
converted.  Crowds  flock  to  hear  the  Word  of  God  with 
eager  appetite,  and  Christians  pray  as  if  they  would  draw 
down  Heaven  to  earth  by  holy  violence.  He  prayed 
himself  like  a  man  inspired,  when  I  heard  him  in  his 
family;  and,  upon  the  whole,  has  such  wisdom,  such 
courage,  such  zeal  given  him,  and  is  so  '  enriched  in  all 
knowledge  and  in  all  utterance,'  that  I  seem  to  myself  in 
many  respects  but  a  little  child  when  compared  with 
him.  I  bless  God  for  his  superior  abilities  and  much 
greater  success.  Would  to  God  that  all  the  Lord's 
people  were  such,  and  that  I,  being  what  I  am,  were  the 
least  and  lowest  of  all  the  ministers  of  Christ  of  every 
denomination  ;  and  I  cannot  say  that  I  wish  to  sink 
lower,  unless  God  may  thereby  be  glorified." 1 


Darracott  MSS. 


104  THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 

Whitefield,  writing  to  Lady  Huntingdon,  February  25, 
1750,  thus  refers  to  the  other  "scandalous  ministers  :" 
"  At  Wellington  I  lay  at  the  house  of  one  Mr.  Darracott, 
a  flaming  successful  preacher  of  the  gospel,  and  who  may 
justly  be  called  'The  Star  of  the  West.'1  He  has  suffered 
much  reproach,  and  in  the  space  of  three  months  has  lost 
three  lovely  children.  Two  of  them  died  the  Saturday 
before  the  Sacrament  was  to  be  administered ;  but 
weeping  did  not  hinder  sowing.  .  .  .  He  preached  next 
day  and  administered  as  usual,  and  for  his  three  natural, 
the  Lord  has  given  him  above  thirty  spiritual,  children. 
He  has  ventured  his  little  all  for  Christ,  and  last  week  a 
saint  died  who  left  him  £,200  in  land.  At  his  place  I 
began  to  take  the  field  for  the  spring ;  at  a  very  short 
warning,  a  multitude  assembled." 

Mr.  Darracott  had  fulfilled  the  promise  of  his  life  at 
college.  So  animated  was  he,  that  it  was  said  he  looked 
"  like  one  who  lived  on  live  things." 

"  Grant  some  of  knowledge  greater  store, 
More  learned  some  in  teaching  ; 
Yet  few  in  life  did  lighten  more, 
Or  thunder  more  in  preaching." 

"His  hearers  so  increased  as  constantly  to  overflow 
the  place  of  worship,"  even  after  its  enlargement.  He 
set  up  charity  schools,  and  opened  houses  for  worship  in 
most  of  the  adjacent  villages,  where  he  preached  weekly. 
About  a  mile  from  the  town  there  was  one  village  where 
drunkenness,  rioting,  and  sin  of  every  description 
formerly  seemed  to  be  the  only  business  of  its  inhabi- 
tants; and  in  this  place,  which  was  called  Rogue's  Green, 
such  a  change  was  effected  as  produced  a  change  of  the 
name,  and  it  is  now  known  as  Roe  Green.  Wellington 
was  changed  by  his  ministry  as  Kidderminster  had  been 
by  that  of  Baxter.2  The  high  estimation  in  which  he  was 
held  by  the  excellent  of  the  earth  appears  from  many  an 

1  The  Rev.  Dr.  Bennett  has  adopted  this  phrase  as  the  title  of 
his  "  Life  of  Darracott  "  (181 5). 
8  "Star  of  the  West,"  p.  55. 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


105 


unpublished  letter  to  him  now  before  us,  written  by  Mr. 
Rawlings  of  St.  Columb,  Dr.  Haweis,  the  Earl  of  Dart- 
mouth, Mr.  Penrose,  vicar  of  Penrhyn,  and  Mr.  Walker, 
vicar  of  Truro,  who  says  in  one  of  his  letters,  "  I  have 
not  your  warm  heart;  Doddridge  was  not  my  tutor. 
Dear  man  !  I  love  him  more,  since  I  have  known  you." 

A  few  weeks  after  Whitefield's  visit,  Darracott  was 
thrown  into  an  illness,  and  was  supposed  to  be  dying. 
When  the  sad  news  came  to  his  old  tutor,  he  wrote  : 
"  Oh  what  a  wound  was  it  to  my  heart,  to  mine  which 
loves  you  as  a  tender  parent,  and  more  than  a  parent,  if 
that  can  be  possible,  to  me  who  look  upon  you  as 
eminently  my  joy  and  my  crown.  Must  the  residue 
of  your  days,  my  dear  friend,  be  cut  short  in  the 
midst  ?  Must  the  world  and  the  Church  lose  you  ? 
Alas  l  it  is  almost  like  a  sword  in  my  heart.  'Tis  what 
I  hardly  know  how  to  bring  my  mind  to  submit  to, 
and  acquiesce  in  with  that  humble  deference  which  we 
owe  to  that  Infinite  Wisdom  which  is  to  determine  the 
affair.  But  I  would  fain  say,  '  Thy  will  be  done.'  I 
would  give  you  up  to  Him,  whose  claims  to  you  are  so 
much  greater  than  ours  ;  not  without  a  secret  hope  that 
He  would  give  you  back  again  to  our  humble  prayer,  and 
will  make  your  life  the  sweeter,  and  your  labour  yet,  if 
possible,  more  acceptable  and  useful  in  consequence  of 
this  threatening  illness.  Of  this,  at  least,  I  am  sure,  He 
has  stirred  up  my  spirit,  and  that  of  several  others,  to 
pray  earnestly  for  you,  and  to  plead  almost  as  for  our 
own  soul.  And  I  cannot  but  think  that  the  consequence 
is,  He  will  spare  you  a  little  to  recover  strength."  1  Mr. 
Darracott's  valuable  life  was  continued  to  the  14th  of 
March,  1759. 

On  May  6,  1750,  about  the  time  when  this  letter  was 
written,  Mr.  Whitefield  had  ridden  from  Olney  to  North- 
ampton, where,  his  journal  informs  us,  he  "had  a  practical 
interview  with  Dr.  Stonehouse,  Rev.  James  Hervey,  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Hartley,  rector  of  Winwick."    Next  day  he 


Darracott  MSS. 


io6 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL. 


preached  in  the  morning  "to  Dr.  Doddridge's  family;"  in 
the  afternoon  to  above  2,000  persons  in  a  field,  his 
friends  with  whom  he  had  the  private  interview  "  walking 
with  him  along  the  street."  Doddridge  was  the  holy 
representative  of  the  vanishing  dispensation,  rather  than 
the  beginner  of  the  new  one  ;  yet  the  scanty  memoranda 
to  which  we  have  been  limited  are  sufficient  to  show  that 
he  welcomed  the  new  one,  if  we  may  so  call  the  great 
evangelic  era  of  which  we  have  been  speaking,  and  that  he 
was  the  first  of  the  Nonconformists  who  held  out  the  hand 
of  fellowship  to  its  great  evangelists. 


IX. 


LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  GENERAL  SOCIETY. 

"  As  thou  hast  proved  it  by  their  practice, 
No  argument  like  matter  of  fact  is, 
And  we  are  best  of  all  led  to 
Men's  principles  by  what  they  do." 

Hudibras,  Part  II.  canto  iii.  1.  191. 

BERKELEY  has  been  called  the  "  Philip  Sidney  of 
Theology."  We  shall  not  presume  to  claim  a 
similar  title  for  our  divine.  He  was,  however,  one  of 
those  on  whom  the  nameless  gift  of  charm  is  bestowed. 
His  loving  kindness,  flowing  courtesy,  and  the  serene 
sunshine  of  his  presence,  made  you  quite  understand  why 
Lord  Halifax  said  of  him,  "There  goes  a  true  Christian 
gentleman."  At  the  same  time,  it  must  be  allowed  that 
his  emotional  quickness  to  take  impression,  his  fairness 
almost  to  the  extreme  of  unfairness  to  persons  of  all 
creeds ; 1  his  invariable  deference  to  the  person  with  whom 
he  happened  to  be  speaking,  his  readiness  to  think  the 
best  of  everybody,  and  his  nervous  fear  of  giving  pain, 
sometimes  led  him  into  temptation,  and  gave  some  colour 
to  the  charge  that  "  he  tried  to  please  all  the  world." 
Yet  on  a  needful  occasion  he  could  utter  a  strong  contrary 
opinion,  and  administer  a  bold  rebuke.  Job  (Jrton  says 
that  "  he  was  noted  for  his  skill  in  reproving  sins  in 
persons  of  quality."  Sir  John  Robinson,  like  many 
country  gentlemen  of  the  day,   was  given  to  mistake 

'  "  It  was  so  dry,  that  you  niight  call  it  wet." 

— Aruutiinot. 


108    LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  GENERAL  SOCIETY. 


profanities  for  flowers  of  speech.  One  night  he  used  bad 
words,  when  Doddridge  was  in  the  company.  Next 
morning  he  received  a  letter  from  him  which  is  a  model 
of  earnest  and  delicate  Christian  appeal. 

Good  talkers  are  rare.  Persons  of  great  mental  wealth 
are  apt  to  have  no  small  change  handy.  But  this  capitalist 
in  book  knowledge  was  such  a  man  of  business,  had  such 
public  spirit,  and  was  so  alive  and  sympathetic  with  the 
small,  familiar  interests  of  life,  that  in  whatever  company 
he  found  himself  he  was  never  at  a  loss.  He  enjoyed  the 
company  of  scientific  men,  in  witness  of  which  we  find 
three  papers  of  his  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal 
Society;  and  only  lately  the  secretary,  Professor  Huxley, 
placed  in  the  archives  a  letter  written  by  him  to  Dr. 
Canton  about  a  question  ol  science  disputed  in  his  day. 
He  was  also  an  active  member  of  the  Northampton  Philo- 
sophical Society,  consisting  of  medical  and  other  gentle- 
men in  town  and  country,  who  met  for  inquiry  and 
experiment  in  relation  to  things  which  this  name  indicates. 
In  the  year  1744  he  read  two  papers  in  the  course  of  their 
meetings — one  on  "  The  Doctrine  of  Pendulums,"  the 
other  on  "  The  Laws  of  the  Communication  of  Motion 
as  well  in  elastic  as  in  non-elastic  bodies."  We  very 
much  fear  that  it  was  at  one  of  those  meetings  a  youthful 
philosopher  unfolded  a  scheme  for  flying  to  the  moon, 
provoking  even  the  gentle  Doddridge  to  make  this 
impromptu  : 

if  And  will  Volatio  leave  this  world  so  soon, 
To  fly  to  his  own  native  seat,  the  moon  ? 
'Twill  stand,  however,  in  some  little  stead, 
That  he  sets  out  with  such  an  empty  head." 

He  was  sure  of  a  welcome  at  Cambridge.  When 
on  a  visit  there  in  1741  he  was  "most  courteously 
entertained  by  Dr.  Newcombe,  Master  of  St  John's." 
Dr.  Conyers  Middleton  invited  him  to  his  house,  and 
our  friend  says,  writing  to  Mrs.  Doddridge,  "  Dr.  Mid- 
dleton showed  me  several  very  fine  curiosities,  and  I,  on 
the  other  hand,  had  the  pleasure  of  informing  him  of 


LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  GENERAL  SOCIETY.  log 


several  very  curious  and  valuable  manuscripts  in  the 
library  of  which  he  has  the  charge,  of  which  neither 
the  doctor  himself  nor  any  of  the  gentlemen  of  the 
university  that  I  saw  had  even  so  much  as  heard, 
though  they  are  the  oldest  monuments  relating  to  the 
churches  of  Italy  which  continued  uncorrupted  in  the 
great  darkness  of  Popery,  i.e.,  between  six  and  seven 
hundred  years  ago,  and  it  is  most  astonishing  to  me 
that  the  university  should  know  nothing  about  them ; 
perhaps  it  is  because  Cromwell  lodged  them  there." 
Mr.  Caryl,  Master  of  Jesus  College,  referring  to  this 
visit  in  a  letter  to  Warburton,  said,  "Dr.  Doddridge 
spent  a  couple  of  days  here  last  week.  .  .  .  He  favoured 
me  with  much  curious  information,  and,  if  I  judge  right, 
is  a  man  of  great  parts  and  learning,  and  of  a  candid, 
communicative  temper.  I  new  reckon  him  amongst  my 
acquaintance,  and  thank  you  for  him."  At  Oxford  he 
was  still  more  at  home.  Mr.  Merrick  of  Trinity,  Mr. 
Costard,  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Wadham,  Dr.  Hunt,  Canon 
of  Christ  Church  and  Regius  Professor  of  Hebrew,  had 
been  his  cordial  hosts,  and  were  friends  with  whom  he 
kept  up  a  learned  correspondence.  "Sir,"  said  Johnson 
to  Boswell,  "  it  is  a  great  thing  to  dine  with  the  canons 
of  Christ  Church."  However  that  might  have  been,  and 
however  remiss  these  doctors  and  others  had  been  in  the 
discharge  of  public  functions,  they  were  scholars  of  high 
repute,  and  no  doubt  it  was  an  honour  to  be  reckoned 
as  one  of  their  fraternity.  Perhaps  his  intercourse  was 
most  frequent  with  Dr.  Richard  Newton.  This  gentle- 
man, having  been  for  thirty  years  Principal  of  Hart  Hall, 
obtained  a  charter  in  1740  to  merge  it  into  a  new  institu- 
tion called  Hertford  College,  which  he  effected  at  great 
personal  expense,  and  became  himself  the  first  Principal. 
In  framing  the  first  statutes  of  this  new  college,  he  con- 
sulted Dr.  Doddridge  and  Sir  John  Thorold,  sending 
copies  to  them  for  notes  of  their  advice  before  publication. 

"  His  discourse,"  says  Kippis,  "sometimes  rose  to  the 
splendid;"  yet  perhaps  it  was  never  more  valued  than  in 
a  quiet  room  with  some  Christian  sufferer.    So,  writing 


110    LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  GENERAL  SOCIETY. 


to  him  September  13,  1744,  Dr.  Watts,  referring  to  a 
recent  visit,  said,  "  Such  converse  as  I  have  lately  enjoyed 
with  you  gives  a  fair  emblem  of  the  social  pleasures  of 
the  heavenly  state,  where  the  communication  of  our  ideas 
on  the  most  sublime  and  glorious  subjects,  and  confirming 
our  souls  with  Divine  truth,  must  needs  have  a  consider- 
able share.  God  grant  that  we  may  here  escape  error  in 
our  pursuit  of  the  best  knowledge." 

Of  course  his  correspondence  was  large.  In  those  days, 
letters  were  not  despatches  shot  off  in  burning  moments  of 
hurry,  like  flakes  and  scintillations  from  a  furnace,  but 
were  treatises.  When  a  letter  cost  ninepence,  the  writer 
tried  to  make  it  worth  ninepence.  As  Charles  Lamb 
says,  "  We  write  no  letters  now."  Knowing  this,  we 
sigh  with  the  weary  man  as  we  read  his  line — "  1  have 
now  on  this  table  above  a  hundred  unanswered  letters." 
Some  of  them  were  doubtless  on  matters  connected  with 
the  academy;  some  on  matters  connected  with  his 
various  offices  of  trustee  or  guardian ;  some  about  the 
business  of  the  county  churches,  or  about  arrangements 
for  ministerial  settlement ;  some  were  from  foreign  pro- 
fessors or  divines,  who  corresponded  in  French  or  Latin  ; 
others  were  on  subjects  of  literature,  or  biblical  exegesis. 
In  the  list  of  correspondents  we  find  learned  men  of  his 
own  communion,  such  as  Lardner,  Leland,  Miles,  and 
Fordyce ;  and  many  distinguished  Anglicans,  such  as 
Dean  Tucker;  the  Bishop  of  Rochester  ;  Bishop  Sherlock, 
of  London  ;  Seeker,  of  Oxford,  afterwards  Primate ; 
Maddox,  of  Worcester ;  Benson,  of  Gloucester ;  and 
Dr.  Herring,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  If  some  morn- 
ing you  had  taken  out  the  contents  of  the  postman's  bag 
for  him,  you  might  have  seen  one  letter  from  the  Duchess 
of  Somerset;  another  from  the  Countess  of  Hardwicke ; 
another  from  Blair,  the  poet ;  another  from  Baker,  the 
naturalist,  describing  a  five-legged  lamb,  and  similar 
prodigies  ;  another  from  an  orientalist,  amending  certain 
translations  of  the  Hebrew  Bible,  and  asking  his  opinion; 
and  another  from  one  of  our  ancestors,  then  only  six 
years  old  (poor  little  ancestors  !)  as  follows  : 


LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  GENERAL  SOCIETY.  Ill 


"  Honoured  Sir, — The  many  favours  you  have  been 
pleased  to  show  my  mama,  which  she  gratefully  acknow- 
ledges to  you,  and  for  your  repeated  favours,  takes 
Liberty  to  present  to  you  a  few  lines  of  my  own  writing, 
the  sight  of  which  she  hopes  will  bring  me  to  your 
Remembrance,  when  before  the  Lord,  since  the  distance 
is  so  great  you  might  possibly  never  think  of  me  in 
perticuler;  but  by  these  lines  you  may  know  the  Lord 
hath  been  pleased  to  give  me  understanding  to  read  the 
Scriptures,  and  a  desire  to  know  the  meaning  of  what  I 
doo  read  ;  he  hath  also  given  me  a  capacity  to  begin  to 
write,  which  my  parents  owns  to  be  his  gift.  He  hath 
been  pleased  to  work  in  me  a  very  great  love  to  my  papa 
and  mama,  and  all  that  love  them,  they  hope  these  lines 
will  be  an  inducement  to  you  to  pray  to  the  Lord  for  me 
that  I  may  have  saving  grace  wrought  in  me  whereby  I 
may  be  enabled  to  improve  any  gift  the  Lord  hath  or 
may  bestow  on  me  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  that  I  may 
both  glorifie  him  here  and  enjoy  him  forever.  Honoured 
Sir,  I  conclude  with  due  respects  from  your  little  servant 
at  six  year  old  till  July,  James  Rodgers. 

"  Rumsey,  March  5,  1742. 

"  To  the  Reverend  Doctor  doddridge."  1 

One  day  the  post  brought  him  the  interesting  story  of 
another  child,  a  child  who  afterwards  became  King 
George  the  Third.  He  had  written  a  booklet  on  "  The 
Principles  of  Christianity,  in  verses,  for  the  use  of  Little 
Children."  "I  am  not  ashamed,"  said  he,  "of  those 
little  services,  for  I  had  rather  feed  the  lambs  of  Christ's 
flock,  than  rule  a  kingdom."  The  Princess  of  Wales  had 
allowed  her  children  each  to  have  a  copy  ;  and  in  a  letter 
dated  February  16,  1745,  Dr.  Ayscough,  their  tutor, 
wrote — 

"  I  shall  always  be  glad  to  receive  any  advice  or 
instruction  from  you,  which  I  desire  you  to  give  me 
freely,  and  I  promise  you  it  shall  be  received  in  the  most 


•  Wilson  MSS. 


112    LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  GENERAL  SOCIETY. 


friendly  way.  ...  I  must  tell  you  that  Prince  George,  to 
his  honour  and  my  shame,  had  learned  several  pages  in 
your  little  book  of  verses  without  any  directions  from  me, 
and  I  must  say  of  all  the  children,  that  they  are  as  con- 
formable and  as  capable  of  necessary  instruction  as  any 
children  I  have  met  with."  1 

Some  of  these  letter-writers  were  also  his  visitors  and 
faithful  friends.  In  this  list  we  find  Dr.  Warburton,  after- 
wards Bishop  of  Gloucester.  People  generally  kept  at  a 
respectful  distance  from  this  mighty  man  of  books,  being 
made  nervous  by  his  formidable  individuality  and  nimble 
energy  of  invective.  He  was  not  much  disposed  to  be 
civil  at  any  time,  and  not  at  all  to  simulate  civility,  even 
to  some  friends  of  his  friend.  For  instance  :  "  I  think," 
said  he,  "  that  you  do  not  set  a  just  value  on  yourself 
when  you  lend  your  name  or  countenance  to  such  weak 
but  well-meaning  rhapsodies  as  '  Hervey's  Meditations.' 
This  may  do  well  enough  for  the  people,  but  the  learned 
claim  you  ;  .  .  .  your  charity  and  love  of  goodness  suffer 
you  to  let  yourself  down  in  the  opinion  of  those  you 
most  value,  and  whose  high  opinion  you  have  fairly 
gained  by  works  of  learning  and  reasoning  inferior  to 
none."  2  Dr.  Stoughton  remarks  :  "  When  one  thinks  of 
the  turbulent  controversialist  coming  under  the  spell  of 
Doddridge's  spirit,  it  almost  reminds  us  of  the  contrast 
and  association  between  the  Lion  and  Una,  in  the  '  Faerie 
Queen.' "  3 

Another  welcome  visitor  was  Colonel  Gardiner.  Dr. 
Kippis  says  that  of  course  the  Doctor  loved  him,  be- 
cause he  said  so  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  he  assures  us  that 
his  virtues  were  of  the  awful  kind,  and  speaks  of  him  as 
a  hard  man,  having  great  austerity  of  aspect.*  Children 
are  excellent  judges  in  such  a  case,  and  we  know  that 
little  Polly  Doddridge,  to  whom  he  used  to  send  "  twenty 
kisses,"  had  a  high  opinion  of  him.  Under  the  reticence 
of  the  proud  old  soldier  there  was  much  shy  kindness, 

1  Wilson  MSS.  2  Letter  of  Warburton,  June  10,  1749. 

3  Stoughton,  "  Religion  in  England,"  vol.  i.  p.  342. 
*  Kippis,  "Biographia  Britannica." 


LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  GENERAL  SOCIETY.  113 


and  a  hidden  life  ready  to  spring  into  tender  and  pas- 
sionate friendship.  Doddridge  found  it,  and  the  two 
friends  were  like  David  and  Jonathan. 

Another  gentleman  who  was  often  seen  at  the  North- 
ampton manse  was  Doctor,  afterwards  Sir  James,  Stone- 
house.  When  a  very  young  man  he  left  Oxford,  after 
a  short  stay  at  Coventry,  to  practise  as  a  physician  at 
Northampton.  He  then  lived  a  gay  and  random  life, 
professed  the  fashionable  unbelief  of  the  day,  and  had 
given  the  world  his  thoughts  on  the  subject,  such  as  they 
were,  in  a  pamphlet  which  passed  through  three  editions. 
In  the  course  of  philanthropic  enterprise  he  was  thrown 
much  in  the  company  of  Doddridge,  for  whom  he  felt  a 
great  admiration.  This  disposed  him  to  read  his  work 
on  the  Evidences,  and  the  letters  under  the  title  of 
"Christianity  Founded  on  Argument."  These  led  him 
to  adopt  the  theories  of  Christian  faith,  though  no  change 
of  heart  was  wrought.  While  he  was  in  an  agony  of 
tenderness  from  the  death  of  his  young  wife,  "  The  Rise 
and  Progress  "  came  from  the  press  ;  and  to  this  he  gave 
serious  heed,  marking  his  copy  "in  hundreds  of  places." 
At  the  same  time  Doddridge  and  Hervey  together  had 
many  talks  with,  and  prayers  for  him,  after  which,  by 
the  sovereign  grace  of  God,  he  became  a  decidedly 
Christian  man  ;  but  although  his  life  was  now  fired  with 
a  new  spirit,  and  was  turned  in  a  new  direction,  he  was 
still  James  Stonehouse,  keeping  his  old  marked  idiosyn- 
crasies. He  was  open,  impulsive,  given  to  say  what 
came  uppermost,  apt  to  get  into  hot  water,  and  de- 
serving the  character  he  had  from  Doddridge,  who  would 
call  him  "  our  wise  doctor,"  or,  what  meant  the  same 
thing,  "  that  most  imprudent  of  men."  As  he  had  used 
his  pen  against  the  good  cause,  he  now  wrote  for  it, 
furnishing  a  few  small,  useful  tracts  for  the  afflicted.  In 
these,  many  of  his  words  are  in  capitals,  many  in  italics  ; 
the  style  of  his  writing  answering  to  the  style  of  his  speech. 
At  Whitefield's  advice  he  ultimately  took  orders  as  a 
clergyman,  and  became  rector  of  Little  Cheveril,  near 
Devizes.  It  was  not  his  nature  to  be  calm ;  and  once 
9 


114   LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  GENERAL  SOCIETY. 

after  he  had  conducted  the  service  in  a  London  church 
with  characteristic  faults  of  manner,  Garrick,  who  had 
been  there,  made  a  criticism  which  is  worth  considering. 
The  actor  said  to  the  preacher— 

"  What  particular  business  had  you  to  do  when  the 
duty  was  over  ?  " 

"  None,"  said  the  other. 

"  I  thought  you  had,"  said  Garrick,  "  on  seeing  you 
enter  the  reading-desk  in  such  a  hurry.  No  thing  can  be 
more  indecent  than  to  see  a  clergyman  set  about  sacred 
business  as  if  he  were  a  tradesman,  and  go  into  church 
as  if  he  wanted  to  get  out  of  it  as  soon  as  possible.  What 
books  were  those  which  you  had  before  you?" 

"Only  the  Bible  and  the  Prayer-book." 

"  Only  the  Bible  and  Prayer-book  !  Why  you  tossed 
them  backwards  and  forwards  and  turned  the  leaves  as 
carelessly  as  if  they  were  those  of  a  day-book  and  ledger."1 

By  this  reproof  of  the  British  Roscius  it  is  said  that 
the  Doctor  greatly  profited  ;  for  even  among  the  Bath 
exquisites  he  was  admired  for  his  grace  and  propriety  in 
the  pulpit.  "Perhaps,"  remarks  Dr.  James  Hamilton, 
"  he  studied  '  his  pulpit  manner  '  too  carefully  ;  at  least, 
he  studied  it  till  he  became  aware  of  it,  and  talked  too 
much  about  it.  His  old  age  was  rather  egotistical.  He 
had  become  a  rich  man  and  a  baronet,  and  as  he  was  a 
little  vain  he  had  many  flatterers  ;  but,  as  the  friend  of 
Hannah  More,  he  has  received  a  sort  of  literary  apothe- 
osis, and  as  long  as  her  "Life  and  Letters"  have  readers,  Sir 
James  will  shine  as  a  star  in  the  constellation  '  Virgo.'"  2 

Some  of  us,  when  in  company  with  the  late  venerable 
Mr.  Jay  of  Bath,  have  heard  him  speak  in  substance  as 
follows  : 

"  At  Mrs.  More's  I  frequently  met  Sir  James  Stone- 
house.  He  was  formerly  a  physician  of  note  at  North- 
ampton. At  that  time  he  was  a  hearer,  and  the  intimate 
friend  of  Dr.  Doddridge,  in  speaking  of  whom  I  recollect 
his  observing  the  amazing  affluence  and  readiness  of  his 

1  "  Lruly  Huntingdon  and  her  Friends,"  p.  8o.    New  York. 

2  Hamilton,  "  Our  Christian  Classics,"  vol.  iii.  p.  387. 


LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  GENERAL  SOCIETY.  115 


mind.  'We  sometimes,'  said  he,  'for  a  little  excursion 
and  recreation,  left  home  together  for  a  week  or  a  fort- 
night (during  the  academic  recess)  ;  and  after  exploring 
the  sceneries  and  curiosities  of  places  in  the  course  of  the 
day,  he  frequently  preached  at  some  meeting  in  the  even- 
ing to  a  crowded  assembly,  without  time  for  retirement, 
without  notes,  without  fatigue  ;  with  an  ease,  an  order,  an 
accuracy,  and  a  fervour  truly  astonishing.'  But  religion 
lives,  moves,  and  has  its  being  in  various  degrees.  He 
was  a  good  man,  with  too  little  spirituality,  and  too  keen 
an  appetite  for  human  praise  ;  therefore  Mr.  Hervey, 
whom  he  attended  as  a  physician,  said  to  him  when 
dying  :  '  Dr.  Stonehouse,  beware  of  the  world  !  beware 
of  the  world  ! '  His  sentiments  were  the  skirn-milk  of 
the  gospel ;  but  he  must  be  classed  as  belonging  to  the 
evangelical  clergy,  though  very  near  the  border  that 
separates  them  from  others."1 

Sir  James  outlived  his  friend  nearly  forty-five  years,  and 
many  unpublished  letters  show  that  he  was  to  the  last  the 
faithful  friend  of  his  family. 

We  could  fill  a  long  chapter  with  introductions  such  as 
these,  showing  the  kind  of  life  with  which  the  life  of  Dod- 
dridge was  associated.  With  such  friends,  such  a  kind 
heart,  and  with  power  to  touch  so  many  springs  of  influ- 
ence, he  naturally  did  much  social  service  outside  the 
pale  of  his  church  work.  We  might  tell  many-chaptered 
stories  of  such  service,  of  his  labours  for  the  good  of  pri- 
soners in  the  county  gaol;  of  his  success  in  establishing, 
in  1738,  a  charity  school,  with  a  foundation  for  clothing 
and  instructing  twenty  boys  ;  of  his  friendship  to  the  poor, 
especially  to  the  widows  and  orphans  of  ministers  ;  of  his 
spirited  help  in  time  of  need  to  other  congregations, 
one  fine  instance  of  which  was  briefly  this  :  "  The  meet- 
ing-house of  the  church  at  Newport  Pagnell  having  been 
erected  on  an  estate  which  belonged  to  one  of  the  con- 
gregation, no  conveyance  of  the  ground  on  which  it  stood 
had  ever  been  made  to  proper  trustees,  and  the  owner 

1  "Autobiography  of  Rev.  William  Jay,"  p.  342. 


Il6    LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  GENERAL  SOCIETY. 


becoming  a  bankrupt,  it  was  seized  by  the  creditors.  Dr. 
Doddridge  purchased  the  meeting-house  of  them,  con- 
veyed it  to  proper  trustees,  and  soon  raised  the  needful 
money."  1 

His  most  memorable  secular  work  was  that  connected 
with  the  foundation  of  the  County  Infirmary,  supported 
by  voluntary  contributions.  Northampton  claims  the 
honour  of  being  the  place  where,  some  years  before  this, 
the  idea  of  county  infirmaries  first  found  expression.  It 
was  suggested  by  John  Rushworth,  a  resident  medical 
gentleman,  who  in  a  pamphlet  published  in  1731,  ad- 
dressed to  the  Surgeons'  Company,  on  the  use,  first  dis- 
covered by  himself,  of  Peruvian  bark  in  mortification, 
made  in  the  postscript  some  urgent  remarks  on  the  desir- 
ableness of  getting  Parliament  to  assist  in  the  erection  of 
an  infirmary  in  the  centre  of  every  county.  There  were 
then  no  foundations  of  the  kind  out  of  London  and  West- 
minster. He  offered  £50  towards  the  support  of  such  a 
project  as  soon  as  it  was  started.  It  will  be  seen  that  his 
proposal  had  reference  to  England  in  general,  not  to 
Northampton  in  particular,  and  that  his  subscription 
waited  for  the  launch  of  a  great  national  enterprise;  but 
he  initiated  nothing,  and  the  question  dropped. 

The  great  local  institution  of  which  we  are  about  to 
speak  began  in  the  determined  and  spirited  action  of 
Doddridge  and  Stonehouse  unitedly.  No  one  can  say 
which  of  them  thought  of  it  first ;  but,  most  likely,  if  either 
of  them  had  withdrawn  from  the  project  at  an  early  stage, 
it  would  have  come  to  nothing.  After  a  while  they  were 
joined  by  Joseph  Jekyll,  Esq.,  of  Dallington,  Ambrose 
Isted,  Esq.,  of  Ecton,  and  other  neighbours;  then  the 
Earl  of  Halifax  was  brought  into  their  counsels,  and  the 
good  work  was  formally  proposed  at  the  Summer  Assizes 
in  July,  1743,  when  it  received  the  substantial  approba- 
tion of  the  High  Sheriff  and  gentlemen  of  the  grand  jury. 
On  the  4th  of  the  following  September  Dr.  Doddridge 
called  renewed  attention  to  it  by  a  sermon,  taking  for  his 
1  *' Brief  Narrative  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Independent 
Church  at  Newport  Pagnell."    London,  181 1. 


LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  GENERAL  SOCIETY.  117 


text,  "  Blessed  is  he  that  considereth  the  poor  :  the  Lord 
will  deliver  him  in  time  of  trouble.  The  Lord  will  strengthen 
him  upon  the  bed  of  languishing  :  thou  wilt  make  all  his 
bed  in  his  sickness"  (Psa.  xli.  1,  3).  A  large  edition 
was  printed  ;  the  Princess  of  Wales  and  many  persons  of 
influence  read  it,  and  it  helped  to  create  an  atmosphere 
of  opinion  favourable  to  the  growth  of  the  enterprise.  On 
September  20th,  "  at  a  General  and  Very  Great  Meeting  of 
the  Nobility,  Gentry,  and  Clergy,"  so  the  first  report 
runs,  "  it  was  resolved  to  Establish  the  Hospital,  and  by 
their  liberal  Subscriptions  and  Benefactions  a  Sum  was 
raised  sufficient  to  begin  with.  .  .  .  A  large  House  (capable 
of  containing  80  Beds)  with  spacious  Gardens  was  imme- 
diately taken  at  Northampton,  the  Situation  of  which  for 
Air,  as  well  as  for  all  Sorts  of  Requisites  for  an  IN- 
FIRMARY, is  preferable  to  almost  any  other  in  England." 
His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Montague  accepted  the  office  of 
Grand  Visitor,  and  the  Earl  of  Halifax  that  of  Perpetual 
President.  By  Lady-day  following  the  house  was  to  be 
ready ;  forty-five  beds  were  to  be  erected,  and  the  Infir- 
mary opened  for  the  reception  of  patients.  The  total  cost 
of  building,  alterations,  and  furniture  was  to  be  .£750. 1 

Nine  days  after,  a  letter  was  written  to  him  by  a  good 
bishop,  whose  last  printed  sermon  he  had  praised  in  too 
complimentary  a  strain.  After  a  little  lecture  on  this, 
his  lordship  went  on  to  say : 

"  Let  us  all  endeavour  to  do  what  good  we  can,  and 
give  those  who  seem  to  endeavour  it  faithfully,  the 
comfort  of  knowing  that  we  think  they  do ;  but  let  us 
never  tempt  one  another  to  forget  that  we  are  unprofit- 
able servants.  I  am  in  no  danger  of  transgressing  this 
rule,  when  I  say  that  I  have  read  your  works  with 
great  satisfaction  and  some  benefit,  and  both  rejoice  and 
wonder  that  in  the  midst  of  your  other  occupations  you 
continue  able,  as  I  pray  God  you  long  may,  to  oblige 

1  "Account  of  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Present  State  of  the  In- 
firmary at  Northampton."  1 743.  See  also  "Gentleman's  Magazine," 
p.  422.  1744. 


Il8    LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  GENERAL  SOCIETY. 


your  fellow  Christians  so  often  and  so  highly  from  the 
press.  ...  I  congtatulate  you  heartily  on  the  prospect 
of  success  you  have  in  your  hospital,  and  as  I  am  very 
sensible  of  what  peculiar  advantage  it  would  be  to  have 
one  at  Oxford,  so  I  have  not  only  taken  all  oppor- 
tunities of  expressing  and  inculcating  my  opinion  j  but 
should  long  before  now  have  made  some  trial  of  what 
could  be  done  in  the  matter,  if  hopes  had  not  been 
given  me  that  Dr.  Radcliffe's  trustees,  when  his  library 
is  finished,  may  employ  some  part  of  the  residue  of  his 
money  in  this  excellent  work.  You  were  much  to  blame 
in  not  letting  me  see  you  at  Gloucester ;  and  the  Bishop, 
when  he  knows  it,  will  be  as  sorry  as  I  am,  that  you 
passed  by  us  in  the  manner  you  did.  The  time  of  my 
being  in  town  and  that  of  your  coming  hither,  I  am 
afraid  are  different ;  but  if  any  occasion  should  bring 
you  near  me,  either  there  or  here,  I  beg  you  will  not 
think  you  need  any  introduction,  for  I  am  with  great 
esteem  and  regard,  sir,  your  very  humble  servant, 

"Thos.  Oxford."  1 

The  great  meeting,  the  account  of  which  had  called 
forth  this  congratulation,  was  not  followed  by  immediate 
results.  It  is  an  easy  thing  to  pass  generous  resolutions 
for  which  no  one  is  responsible.  The  real  work  had  yet 
to  be  done,  and  the  first  stages  of  this  were  painful  and 
slow.  Questions  like  these  were  asked:  "What  next? 
Who  ever  heard  of  such  a  thing?  Suppose  it  succeeds, 
what  good  will  it  be  to  places  miles  out  of  town  ?  Merely 
a  house  for  it  will  cost  nearly  eight  hundred  pounds  ! 
Who  is  to  find  all  this  money?"  Doddridge  himself 
seems  to  have  had  some  misgivings ;  witness  his  words 
in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Clark,  dated  Dec  15,  1743  :  "I  wish 
I  could  tell  you  some  better  news  of  our  hospital.  We 
have  taken  a  house  for  it.  Our  subscriptions  amount 
to  more  than  j£boo,  but  I  fear  the  distant  parts  of  the 
county  will  do  nothing  considerable.    We  shall  hardly 

'  "Diary  and  Correspondence,"  vol.  iv.  p.  271. 


LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  GENERAL  SOCIETY.  Iig 

open  till  Lady-day."1  Writing  to  the  same  gentleman, 
January  23,  1744,  he  says: 

"  Rev.  and  Dear  Sir, — The  care  of  attending  the  affairs 
of  our  hospital,  which  to  this  day  press  hard  on  me  (as  Dr. 
Stonehouse  will  hardly  do  anything  without  me),  visiting 
the  sick,  who  at  present  are  numerous,  and  the  illness  of 
my  secretary,  which  obliges  me  to  write  most  of  my  very 
many  letters  with  mine  own  hand,  added  to  my  usual 
business  and  the  labour  of  despatching  as  fast  as  I  can, 
which  is  very  slowly,  my  manuscript  on  the  Rise  and 
Progress  of  Religion,  have  concurred  to  occasion  a  delay 
of  my  answer  to  your  last  very  obliging  letter.  ...  I 
am  very  glad,  sir,  that  you  liked  my  hospital  sermon 
and  its  dedication.  I  have  hardly  ever  published  any- 
thing which  has  been  at  the  same  time  so  commended 
and  neglected  ;  and  were  not  Lord  Halifax  and  Mr. 
Jekyll  so  hearty  in  the  cause,  /  should  still  expect  the 
design  of  the  hospital  would  drop.  But  I  hope  it  will 
be  open  by  Easter  week,  and  will,  I  doubt  not,  stand, 
though  I  fear  it  will  scarcely  flourish,  unless  God  put 
more  generosity  into  men's  hearts.  The  clergy  are 
strangely  backward  on  the  occasion,  and  I  fear  that  my 
sermon  here  rather  alienated  than  conciliated  their  re- 
gard ;  for  with  some  men  even  charity  grows  odious 
when  recommended  by  a  Dissenter.  I  wish  Mr.  Brad- 
bury did  not  show  too  much  of  the  like  spirit  in  the 
zeal  and  fury  with  which  he  opposes  the  Moravians  and 
Methodists,  and  all  who  will  not  go  his  length  in  putting 
them  down." 

The  Infirmary  was  formally  opened  on  the  25th 
of  March,  1744,  "when  the  Earl  of  Northampton,  the 
Earl  of  Halifax,  Perpetual  President,  etc,  went  in  pro- 
cession, attended  by  the  Mayor  and  Corporat  on  in 
their  formalities,  to  the  church  of  All  Saints,  where  was 
preached  a  sermon  by  Dr.  Grey,  rector  of  Hinton.  The 

*  "Diary  and  Correspondence,"  vol.  iv.  p.  298. 


120    LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  GENERAL  SOCIETY. 


collection  was  ^54  16s.  n^d."1  Dr.  Richard  Newton, 
to  whom  in  the  name  of  the  committee  Dr.  Doddridge 
had  in  the  first  instance  applied  for  the  opening  sermon, 
had  been  obliged  to  decline,  but  had  sent  him  ^50 
towards  the  purchase  of  the  premises,  this  being  charity- 
money  at  his  disposal.  Altogether,  the  sum  promised 
had  by  this  time  reached  ^,'1,014  18s.  6d.,  and  of  this 
^948  had  been  paid. 

Our  Doctor  was  chairman  of  the  "  Week  Committee  " 
in  the  meeting  following  the  opening  day,  and  often 
occupied  that  post  on  subsequent  occasions.  The  earlier 
minutes  show  the  continued  value  and  activity  of  his 
services  :  for  example,  in  presenting  benefactions  from 
Mrs.  Doddridge  ;  in  leading  an  inquiry  into  certain  mis- 
understandings between  the  medical  officers;  in  drawing 
up  reports ;  in  inspecting  the  wards,  in  conjunction  with 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Rushworth,  at  the  request  of  the  committee, 
and  in  reporting  several  irregularities,  which  were  rectified; 
in  making,  on  a  similar  request,  a  calculation  of  the 
expense  of  the  patients;  and  in  obtaining  from  the  dissent- 
ing churches  in  the  county,  promises  of  contributing  to 
collections  "  in  concurrence  with  their  neighbours  in  the 
several  parishes  in  which  they  live."  His  own  annual 
subscription  was  five  guineas  until  his  death,  which 
seems  large,  when  we  remember  the  words  of  a  Puritan 
Father :  "  The  Lord  regardeth  not  so  much  what  is 
given,  as  what  is  left." 

The  Bishop  of  Worcester,  writing  to  him,  March  15, 
1746,  says,  "I  am  much  assisted  and  greatly  obliged  by 
the  accounts  that  I  have  been  favoured  with  in  rela- 
tion to  the  Infirmary  at  Northampton.  .  .  .  We  have 
made  a  beginning,  and  admitted  some  patients  into  our 
Infirmary  at  Worcester,  and  with  God's  blessing,  I  trust 
we  shall  make  further  progress  this  summer.  .  .  .  We 
have  not  yet  engaged  in  building,  but  have  hired  a 
house,  in  which  we  can  make  up  about  twenty-five  beds. 
If  there  be  any  prudential  rules  that  occur  to  you  in  the 
progress  of  this  work,  I  should  be  truly  thankful  for 
*  "Gentleman's  Magazine,"  April,  1744. 


LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  GENERAL  SOCIETY.  121 


them.  I  am,  sir,  with  much  regard  and  esteem,  your 
obliged  humble  servant." 

The  first  Infirmary  in  George  Row,  was  twice  enlarged. 
The  present  building  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  ^15,000, 
and  opened  Oct.  12,  1793.  This  has  also  been  en- 
larged more  than  once,  and  a  new  building  was  added 
in  1878.  From  first  to  last,  at  a  rough  estimate,  there 
cannot  have  been  less  than  ^£2  7,000  spent  for  structural 
purposes.  In  1879,  the  "  ordinary  income"  was  reported 
as  ,£5,047,  and  the  whole  income,  including,  in  ad- 
dition to  this,  collections,  and  "extraordinary  receipts," 
amounted  to  ^8,032.  The  patriarchs,  who  thought  the 
first  sum  of  ^£750  too  large  to  be  raised,  would  have 
been  "astonied"  if  a  prophet  had  foreshown  this  financial 
wonder.  The  in-patients  under  treatment  last  year  (1879) 
numbered  1,589;  the  out-patients  in  the  same  time  were 
7,120.  Since  1744,  83,294  persons  have  been  admitted 
without  recommendation,  upon  sudden  accidents  or  cases 
that  would  admit  of  no  delay.  Ever  since  that  time,  by 
liberal  arrangements,  by  the  splendid  apparatus  of  bene- 
ficence and  knowledge,  and  by  the  wealth  that  comes 
out  of  sacrifice,  this  institution  has  been  doing  good  in 
a  large  and  catholic  way;  in  its  school  of  medicine 
many  generations  of  students  have  acquired  by  scientific 
trial  the  cunning  eye,  the  sure  hand,  and  the  art  which 
never  can  be  wholly  taught  by  books,  or  by  dint  of 
attending  lectures ;  and  here,  through  constant  spiritual 
ministrations,  many  souls  have  been  saved  or  comforted. 
The  little  slip  that  Doddridge  helped  to  plant  and  water, 
has  now  become  a  noble  tree,  and  is  destined  to  grow 
still  further.  It  was  a  good  thought  that  quickened  in 
his  mind  as  well  as  in  that  of  the  friend  who  was  one 
with  him,  and  it  is  in  the  nature  of  such  thoughts  to 
spring  and  germinate  in  some  beautiful,  practical  way 
for  ever.1 

1  I  have  been  favoured  with  much  information  about  the  In- 
firmary from  W.  Adkins,  Esq.,  J. P.,  Arthur  Jones,  Esq.,  M.B., 
house  surgeon,  and  other  gentlemen. 


X. 


THE  OLD  MEETING-HOUSE. 

"The  church  is  larger  than  before  ; 
You  reach  it  by  a  carriage  entry  ; 
It  holds  three  hundred  people  more, 
And  pews  are  fitted  up  for  gentry." 

WlNTHROP  MACKWORTH  PRAED. 

CASTLE  HILL  Meeting-house,  the  venerable  place 
in  which  he  exercised  his  ministry,  partly  derives  its 
name  from  the  Castle  Hill.  On  that  hill,  close  by,  an 
old  castle  once  reared  its  stately  towers  in  the  air.  Par- 
liaments have  been  held  in  it.  There,  chivalry  put  forth 
its  flower.  Thomas  Becket's  train  of  winding  splendour 
has  passed  through  its  gates.  In  the  reign  of  King  John, 
a  dark  deed  was  done  on  the  spot,  which  is  still  dark, 
but  alive  in  the  pages  of  Shakespeare.1  Even  by  the 
time  of  Doddridge,  however,  nothing  was  left  of  this 
famous  castle,  but  a  ridge  of  ruddy  grey  wall,  scarcely 
higher  than  the  nettles  and  mallows  that  skirted  it.  The 
only  bit  of  complete  masonry  left  was  a  low,  arched 
recess,  that  lasted  till  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  and  which 
certain  children  were  accustomed  to  regard  as  the  opening 
to  the  identical  dungeon  in  which  "  Christian  and  Hope- 
ful "  were  once  shut  up.  On  the  hill,  inside  the  great 
crumbling  ring  of  ruins,  was  a  field  where,  as  Doddridge 
saw,  Master  Palmer  had  a  cluster  of  cattle-sheds  and 
haystacks  ;  nothing  giving  out  a  sign  of  the  many  ancient 
secrets  that  were  under  the  grass.     Outside  this  ring 

*  "King  John,"  act  iv.  scene  I. 


THE  OLD  MEETING-HOUSE.  1 23 


was  a  deep  green  hollow,  once  the  moat.  On  the 
country  side  of  this,  and  anciently  used  in  the  service  of 
the  moat,  the  river  Nene  wound  in  and  out  through  rushes 
and  feather  grass;  and  away  beyond  swept  the  Dallington 
Moors,  where  alarmists  expected  some  day  to  see  the 
Pretender.  On  the  town  side,  yet  in  advance  of  the 
town,  was  the  solitary  meeting  -  house,  said  to  have  been 
built  of  stones  fetched  from  the  shattered  fortifications, 
which  act  brings  to  mind  the  text  about  "  beating  swords 
into  ploughshares,  and  spears  into  pruning-hooks."  Close 
to  the  meeting-house  were  two  small  hills,  now  long  ago 
levelled,  which  were  mounds  of  rubble  from  fires  as  well 
as  from  ruins  made  by  war,  grown  over  with  a  tangle  of 
rank  weeds. 

The  writer  of  this  once  knew  a  man  who  knew  a  man 
who  knew  Doddridge.  Seventy  years  ago,  when  one  of 
these  was  very  young  and  the  other— Master  Love  of 
Harpole— was  very  old,  the  two  used  to  stand  near  the 
old  building  and  think  of  the  words  :  "  Thy  servants  take 
pleasure  in  the  stones,  and  favour  the  dust  thereof." 
Using  the  reminiscences  furnished  by  these  humble  men, 
let  us  try  to  see  the  place  as  it  looked  at  the  time  touched 
by  this  biography.  Beautiful  as  it  was  in  their  eyes,  it 
certainly  had  a  look  of  quiet,  respectable  ugliness  that 
might  have  defied  competition;  for  it  seemed  to  have 
been  reared  by  a  believer  in  the  rule,  "  He  who  was  born 
in  a  manger  should  be  preached  in  a  barn."  It  stood  in 
the  midst  of  green  graves  and  sculptured  stones,  which 
time  had  powdered  with  orange  and  silver.  Elms  and 
Scotch  firs  shadowed  it.  On  the  walls  were  sepulchral 
tablets,  a  little  pent  roof  shelved  over  each  door,  all  the 
windows  above  and  below  were  shuttered  outside  —  a 
precaution  which  ancient  mobs  made  needful, — and  in 
front,  over  one  of  them,  was  a  sundial,  with  the  motto, 
"Post  est  Occasio  calva.  1695."  Once,  Dr.  Doddridge's 
clerk  being  late,  that  clerk,  dicitur  dixisse,  is  said  to  have 
said,  "  By  ine  it  wants  five  minutes — the  dial  must  be  a 
little  too  fast." 

Now  note  the  interior.  Space  for  about  seven  hundred 


124  THE  0LD  MEETING-HOUSE. 


persons.  Roof  propped  by  two  great  white  wooden  pillars, 
one  a  little  bandy — the  "  Jachin  "  and  "  Boaz  "  of  the 
temple.  White  galleries,  clumsy  white  pulpit,  a  great 
sounding-board  over  it.  Right  and  left  of  it,  glazed 
with  small,  gray-green  panes,  two  tall  windows  of  the 
lattice  kind,  which  Master  Love  remembered  to  have 
been  taken  out  when  Whitefield  preached,  that  he  might 
be  heard  by  the  crowd  outside.  Straight  before  the 
pulpit,  a  long,  massive  communion-table,  at  each  side  of 
which  the  students  sat ;  and  over  this  table,  on  a  chain 
that  dangled  from  the  rafters,  a  mighty  brass-branched 
candlestick.  All  the  pews  near  the  walls  were  deep 
and  square,  of  the  kind  which  suggested  Milton's  com- 
parison of  the  people  in  them  to  sheep  in  the  pens  at 
Smithfield.1  There  were  no  lobbies.  You  went  up  the 
gallery  steps  in  the  sight  of  all  Israel ;  and  the  doors 
opened  right  into  the  graveyard,  grassy,  still,  and  peace- 
ful. Within  and  without,  everything  was  marked  by  stark 
plainness — partly  because  the  founders  had  no  wealth  to 
spare,  but  also  from  their  sense  of  reverence.  The 
thought  was,  "  How  dreadful  is  this  place  ;  this  is  none 
other  than  the  house  of  God ! "  Who  will  presume  to 
decorate  it ! 

"  For  so  Divine  and  pure  a  Guest, 
The  emptiest  rooms  are  furnished  the  best  ! " 

If  you  had  been  there  on  some  Sunday  morning 
during  the  gathering  of  the  people,  you  might  have  seen 
the  dragoons  of  Lord  Cadogan's  regiment  crowded  all 
round  on  the  back  seats  of  the  galleries ;  into  the 
square  pew  next  the  vestry,  you  might  have  seen  stalk 
the  stately  Colonel  Gardiner,  very  awful  to  young 
imaginations  ;  you  might  have  seen  Oliver  Cromwell,  the 
Protector's  great  grandson,  and  grandson  of  Henry, 
Lord  Deputy  of  Ireland  — for  this  gentleman  was  often  a 
visitor  in  the  town,  and  had  made  his  arrangements  to 

*  "Touching  Means  to  Remove  Hirelings  out  of  the  Church." 
— "Works,"  vol.  iii.  p.  366. 


THE  OLD  MEETING-HOUSE.  125 


settle  in  this  congregation,  when  his  purposes  were  broken 
off  by  death ;  you  might  have  seen  persons  of  an  order 
not  now  always  represented  in  a  country  conventicle — 
such  as  ladies  of  the  house  of  Russell,  or  from  Delapre 
Abbey ;  you  might  possibly  have  seen  the  shock  made  by 
the  entrance  of  some  vain  young  woman  in  "a  bonnet  !  " 
Ladies,  with  hair  dressed  elaborately  as  that  of  Fejee 
Islanders,  were  scandalised  at  the  sight  of  worldliness  so 
desperate  as  this,  and  once  a  senior  sister  thus  expressed 
her  feelings  :  "  The  uncouth  taste  of  being  hatted  and 
bonneted  prevails  now  in  almost  all  the  churches  in 
town  and  country.  Even  matrons  of  sixty  emulate  the 
thoughtless  whim  of  girls  in  their  teens,  each  trying  to 
countenance  the  other  in  this  idle  transgression  of  the 
laws  of  decency  and  decorum."  1 

The  place  would  be  full.  You  would  see  that  a  large 
proportion  of  the  congregation  came  from  the  country, 
consisting  of  small  gentry,  farmers,  and  their  labourers. 
Many  shopkeepers,  thoughtful  and  reasoning  persons, 
came  from  the  town,  and  there  were  many  of  the  very 
poor  class.  Many  of  this  class  especially  were  persons  of 
high  rank,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  Dyer,  who,  in  his 
work  on  "  Christ's  Famous  Titles,"  says,  "  He  is  nobly 
descended  who  is  born  from  above."  You  might  have 
seen  good  old  Malory  Weston,  whose  name  appears  first 
on  the  list  of  signers  appended  to  Doddridge's  call,  still 
framed  over  the  vestry  fireplace.  From  the  year  1736 
he  had  been  designated  the  "Father  of  the  Church,"  being 
the  oldest  member.  There  would  be  Thomas  Porter,  the 
doctor's  man,  another  spiritual  nobleman,  who,  though  he 
was  so  illiterate  as  not  to  be  able  to  distinguish  one  letter 
from  another,  had,  merely  by  attention  to  his  minister's 
teaching,  got  an  immense  number  of  texts  in  his  memory, 
with  the  register  of  the  chapter  and  verse,  and  had  "an 
unaccountable  talent  of  fixing  on  such  as  to  suit  every 
imaginable  case."  "  Many  hundreds  of  people  have  had 
a  curiosity  to  see  this  odd  phenomenon,"  says  the  Doctor, 


»  "The  World,"  1753. 


126  THE  OLD  MEETING-HOUSE. 


"  and  when  Colonel  Gardiner  said  farewell  to  him  on  the 
eve  of  his  last  departure  he  quoted  twenty  passages  with 
admirable  suitableness  to  the  case,  finishing  the  catalogue 
with  the  charge, '  Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give 
thee  a  crown  of  life.'  "  1  You  might  also  have  seen  Master 
Clayton,  the  old  ploughman  of  Dallington,  of  whom  this 
story  is  told: — Mr.  James  Hervey,  shortly  after  he  had 
become  his  father's  curate,  was  ordered  by  the  physician 
for  the  benefit  of  his  health  to  follow  the  plough  and 
smell  the  fresh  earth.  In  obedience  to  this  he  frequently 
accompanied  Clayton.  Finding  that  he  was  a  serious 
man,  he  said  to  him  one  morning — when  stopping  to  rest 
on  the  root  of  an  oak — "  What  do  you  think  the  hardest 
thing  in  religion  ?  "  "  Sir,"  said  he,  "  I  am  a  poor  man, 
and  you  are  a  minister.  I  beg  to  return  the  question." 
"  Then,"  said  Mr.  Hervey,  "  I  think  the  hardest  thing  is 
to  deny  sinful  self ;  "  grounding  his  opinion  on  our  Lord's 
admonition,  "If  any  man  will  follow  me,  let  him  deny 
himself."  .  .  .  The  ploughman  quietly  replied,  "  Sir,  there 
is  another  instance  of  self-denial  to  which  the  injunction 
of  Christ  equally  extends,  which  is  the  hardest  thing  in 
religion,  and  that  is,  to  deny  rigfiteous  self.  You  know 
I  do  not  come  to  hear  you  preach,  but  go  every  Sunday 
with  my  family  to  hear  Dr.  Doddridge  at  Northampton. 
We  rise  early  in  the  morning,  we  have  prayer  before  we 
set  out,  in  which  I  find  pleasure  ;  under  the  sermon  I 
find  pleasure  ;  when  at  the  Lord's  Table  I  find  pleasure  : 
but  yet  to  this  moment  I  find  it  the  hardest  thing  to  deny 
righteous  self — I  mean,  to  renounce  my  own  strength 
and  righteousness,  and  not  to  lean  on  that  for  holiness, 
or  to  rely  on  this  for  justification."  Mr.  Hervey,  in  re- 
peating this  to  a  friend  several  years  after,  said,  "  I  looked 
upon  the  old  man  with  astonishment  and  disdain,  and 
thought  him  an  old  fool.  .  .  .  Since  that  I  have  seen 
clearly  who  was  the  fool  :  not  the  old  ploughman,  but 
the  proud  James  Hervey."2    Another  person  who  was 

1  Remarkable  Passages  in  the  Life  of  Colonel  Gardiner. — 
"Works." 
"  Mr.  Kyland's  account. 


THE  OLD  MEETING-HOUSE. 


127 


also  much  reverenced  in  the  little  community  was  Mary 
Wills,  a  poor  woman  of  singular  piety,  and  of  such  insight 
and  foresight  in  connection  with  spiritual  things  that  you 
would  think,  from  a  long  chapter  written  about  her  in 
one  of  Doddridge's  journals,1  that  he  thought  her  en- 
dowed with  the  extraordinary  gifts  of  the  Spirit.  Her 
sayings  were  much  quoted.  Famous  persons  went  long 
distances  to  see  her.  Colonel  Gardiner  would  write, 
"  Pray  remember  me  to  all  those  with  you  who  love  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity,  and  particularly  to  Mary 
Wills."  The  Earl  of  Leven  and  Melville,  writing  Feb.  25, 
1747,  says,  "Pray  let  me  know  how  poor  Mary  Wills 
does.  What  you  wrote  of  her  fears  about  me  is  very 
extraordinary,  for  at  that  very  time  I  was  in  great  distress  ! 
I  want  much  to  know  her  notions  of  the  present  times, 
and  shall  have  a  long  conversation  with  her  when  I  come 
to  your  part  of  the  world."2  You  might  have  seen  in 
the  assembling  company  many  other  persons  whose  names 
we  find  in  the  pastor's  private  memoranda,  and  who 
doubtless  made  some  stir  in  their  day,  but  about  whom 
history  is  silent ;  for  example,  "  Nurse  Fairy,  Goody 
Honour,  Betty  Walker,  Tubalcain  Mellowes."  This  last- 
named  worthy  reminds  us  of  Jeremy  Taylor's  lament — 
"  How  few  have  heard  of  the  name  of  Vencatapadino 
Ragium  ! "  3 

When  the  hour  of  worship  struck,  punctual  to  the 
moment,  the  Doctor,  in  rolling  white  wig  and  dark  blue 
Geneva  gown,  would  step  into  the  pulpit  and  hang  his 
triangular  hat  on  a  peg  behind  him.  There  would  be 
a  solemn  hush,  and  a  short,  solemn  prayer  ;  then  he 
would  read — oh,  how  reverently  ! — a  short  psalm.  In  early 
days  the  impressiveness  of  this  must  have  been  much 
impaired  by  the  style  of  the  following  "  service  of  song." 
There  was  no  organ,  for  organs  are  not  mentioned  in  the 
New  Testament,  but  instead  of  this  there  was,  so  tra- 
dition tells  us,  what  has  been  called  "  a  large  population 

*  "  Diary  and  Correspondence,"  vol.  v.  p.  367. 
'  Ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  526. 

3  "Taylor's  Works,"  vol.  iv.  p.  314.  Hughes's  Edition. 


128  THE  OLD  MEETING-HOUSE. 


of  flute,  fiddles,  and  fiddles'  fathers."  This  was  an  old 
fashion.  Thomas  Mace,  addressing  his  book  on  Psalmody 
"  To  all  Divine  readers,  especially  to  those  of  the  dissent- 
ing ministry  and  clergy,  who  want  not  only  skill,  but 
goodwill  to  this  most  excelling  part  of  Divine  service," 
says,  "  I  shall  not  need  to  blazon  it  abroad  in  print  how 
miserably  the  Prophet  David's  psalms  are  (as  1  may  say) 
tortured  and  tormented,  and  the  service  of  God  dis- 
honoured, made  coarse,  or  ridiculous  thereby.  ...  It  is 
sad  to  hear  what  whining,  toting,  yelling,  and  screeching 
there  is  in  many  country  congregations."  1  By  the  time 
we  are  thinking  of,  the  congregation  had  changed  its 
musical  fashion,  and  the  singing  was  led  by  the  clerk, 
without  a  choir.  John  Ryland  says,  "  I  once  had  the 
honour  to  preach  for  the  Doctor,  who  himself  gave  out 
the  hymns  on  that  occasion,  but  could  not  set  the  tunes, 
for  he  could  never  change  two  notes."2  A  repetition  of 
reading,  praying,  and  singing  followed;  then  came  the 
sermon.  Master  Love,  already  quoted,  used  to  speak  of 
the  Doctor's  "  loud  voice ; "  others  have  spoken  of  bis 
earnest  tenderness  and  nervous  violence  of  gesticulation. 
It  was  his  ordinary  custom  in  preparing  for  the  pulpit 
simply  to  write  out  the  scheme  of  his  sermons,  with  a  few 
key-words  and  a  few  illustrative  texts,  then  to  use  the 
language  that  sprang  at  the  time.  Sometimes,  owing  to 
the  abundance  of  his  occupations,  he  left  too  much  to  the 
moment  of  delivery,  so  at  least  the  young  pulpiteers 
under  his  care  ventured  to  think,  and  once  a  deputation 
waited  on  him  to  say  that,  "  though  their  revered  tutor's 
academical  lectures  were  admirable,  they  had  not  in  him 
a  sufficiently  correct  model  of  pulpit  composition ; " 
whereupon  the  meek  and  candid  man  thanked  them 
kindly  and  was  more  careful  for  the  future.  Dr.  Kippis, 
who  tells  this  anecdote,  also  speaks  of  his  remarkable 
power  in  extemporaneous  speaking,  and  cites  an  illustra- 
tion of  it  which  once  occurred  when  he  was  a  hearer.  It 
appears  that  he  and  Dr.  Akenside  had  for  two  or  three 

•  "Muses'  Monument,"  1676. 

■  Dr.  Newman's  "  Rylandiana,"  p.  9. 


THE  OLD  MEETING-HOUSE.  I2g 


previous  evenings  been  carrying  on  a  debate  on  the 
question,  "  How  far  the  ancient  heathen  philosophers 
were  acquainted  with,  and  had  inculcated,  the  doctrine  of 
immortality?''"  One  Sunday  mornirg,  the  poet,  with  two 
or  three  of  his  friends,  came  unexpectedly  into  the  meet- 
ing. Kippis  remarks,  "  The  subject  he  preached  upon 
was  a  common  orthodox  topic,  for  which  he  had  scarcely 
made  any  preparation.  But  he  roused  his  faculties  on 
the  occasion,  and  spoke  with  such  energy,  variety,  and 
eloquence  as  excited  my  warmest  admiration,  and  must 
have  impressed  Dr.  Akenside  with  a  high  opinion  of  his 
abilities."1  "I  have  often  thought,"  says  the  same  remi- 
niscent, "that,  in  certain  points,  he  had  a  resemblance 
to  Cicero.  He  resembled  him  ...  in  the  copiousness, 
diffusion,  and  pathos  of  his  eloquence."  However,  thought 
of  from  the  merely  human  side,  perhaps  his  sermons  were 
never  very  great.  They  had  in  them  no  spoken  picture, 
no  sparkling  spray,  no  crushing  burst  of  power,  no  search- 
ing flash  of  light  ;  certainly  no  impertinence  of  the  kind 
that  so  often  goes  under  the  name  of  fine  preaching.  They 
were  clear,  orderly,  practical,  affectionate  presentations 
of  saving  truth,  in  accordance  with  his  motto  :  "  May 
I  remember  that  I  am  not  to  compose  an  harangue  to 
acquire  to  myself  the  reputation  of  an  eloquent  orator, 
but  that  I  am  preparing  food  for  precious  and  immortal 
souls,  and  dispensing  the  sacred  gospel  which  my  Re- 
deemer brought  from  heaven,  and  sealed  with  His  blood." 
After  the  sermon  the  hymn  sung  was  generally  one  com- 
posed by  him  for  the  occasion,  and  the  precentor  used  to 
give  it  out  and  lead  it  line  by  line.  This  was  not  merely 
a  Nonconformist  practice.  We  find,  for  instance,  from 
the  note  made  by  a  visitor,  that  it  was  the  custom  at  the 
neighbouring  Collingtree  Parish  Church.2  Bishop  Gibson 
specially  instructed  the  clerks  to  do  this,  first  in  his 
charge  of  1721,  and  again  in  that  of  1744. 

There  would  be  a  full  place  again  in  the  afternoon,  but 
before  public  worship  the  children  were  catechised.  On 

1  "  Biographia  Britannica." 

2  "  Life  and  Times  of  Countess  of  Huntingdon,"  vol.  i.  p.  192. 

IO 


130  THE  OLD  MEETING-HOUSE. 


this  and  other  occasions  the  catechism  was  made  the 
basis  of  affectionate,  conversational  teaching ;  parents 
and  other  members  of  families  being  present.  Thomas 
Fuller  saith,  "  A  good  pastor  carefully  catechiseth  his 
people  in  the  elements  of  religion,  except  he  hath  (a  rare 
thing  !)  a  flock  without  lambs,  and  all  of  old  sheep ;  yet 
even  Luther  did  not  scorn  to  profess  himself  discipulum 
catechismi,  'a  scholar  of  the  catechism.'"  Doddridge 
subscribed  to  such  sentiments.  In  one  of  his  letters  to 
Mr.  Darracott  he  says,  "  I  have  begun  another  visitation 
to  all  the  parents  in  the  congregation,  in  which  I  solemnly 
charge  and  beseech  them,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  that  they  take  a  tender  care  of  the  children  com- 
mitted to  their  charge,  to  bring  them  up  for  God,  and 
I  have  engaged  to  meet  them  and  all  their  children  to- 
gether, and  solemnly  commit  them  all  to  the  Divine 
blessing.  The  children  attend  catechising  in  consider- 
able numbers.  .  .  .  Family  prayer  is  erected  in  some 
families  where  it  had  been  unknown."  1  After  the  cate- 
chising, when  the  general  congregation  assembled,  perhaps 
one  of  the  students  would  officiate. 

Originally,  there  was  no  evening  service,  excepting 
once  a  month  to  celebrate  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  proper 
time  for  which  was  considered  to  be  evening.  Then,  for 
the  sake  of  the  majority,  who  came  from  the  villages,  the 
calendar  was  consulted,  so  as  to  secure  the  moonlight 
nights.  On  other  occasions  the  meeting  seems  to  have 
been  open  in  the  evening  only  after  special  notice.  The 
course  of  lectures  on  "  Regeneration,"  afterwards  pub- 
lished, and  one  on  "The  Parables,"  were  given  at  this 
hour,  the  towns-folk  having  the  special  benefit.  The 
presence  of  the  country-folk  was  out  of  the  question, 
owing  to  the  evil  state  of  the  roads,  which  were  then  only 
the  old  waggon  tracks,  worn  deep  by  the  tread  and  rain 
of  centuries.  On  a  summer  morning  it  might  have  been 
a  poetical  delight  to  ride  to  meeting  along  the  grassy  and 
elm-shadowed  bridle-paths,  between  straggling,  unpruned 

1  Darracott  MSS.,  Jan.  6,  1748;  March  26,  1750. 


THE  OLD  MEETING-HOUSE. 


fringes,  where  the  bramble  and  "he  dog-rose  threw  their 
long  garlands  abroad,  and  the  honeysuckle  twined 
round  the  thorn ;  but  it  was  a  prosaic  thing  when  the 
banks  were  ragged  with  dead  grasses,  black  with  fallen 
leaves,  when  the  centre  was  mashed  into  a  quagmire,  and 
when,  in  the  language  of  Milton,  the  traveller 

"O'er  bog  or  steep,  through  straight,  rough,  dense,  or  rare, 
With  head,  hands,  wings,  or  feet,  pursued  his  way, 
And  swam  or  sank,  or  waded,  or  crept,  or  fled."  1 

You  would  have  supposed  that  the  passing  of  the  Turn- 
pike Act  in  1752  would  have  been  hailed  by  all  congre- 
gational pilgrims  with  thankfulness;  but,  no  !  it  offended 
their  rigid  perpendicularity  of  principle,  they  railed  at  it  as 
a  worldly  novelty  ;  some  brethren  preached  against  it,  and 
one  of  the  texts  was  this  (Jeremiah  vi.  16)  :  "Stand  ye  in 
the  ways  and  see,  and  ask  for  the  old  paths,  which  is  the 
good  way,  and  walk  thereon." 

Various  meetings  were  held  between  the  Sundays. 
From  1739  to  about  1748,  one  of  these  was  a  Thursday 
evening  lecture  at  College  Lane  Baptist  Chapel,  which 
used  to  be  crowded. 

Dr.  Samuel  Clark,  in  the  preface  to  a  small  volume  of 
sermons  preached  at  Castle  Hill,  probably  in  a  vacation, 
and  then  printed  at  the  request  of  his  hearers,  remarks, 
"  It  was  with  great  pleasure  that  I  observed  among  you 
such  a  lively  sense  of  religion  and  its  great  truths,  appear- 
ing in  your  diligent  and  pious  attendance  upon  the 
public  worship  of  God;  your  frequent  meetings  in  private 
for  prayer  and  mutual  edification  ;  the  religious  order  of 
your  families  ;  your  regular  and  exemplary  conversation, 
and  pious  zeal  for  promoting  the  interests  of  religion  ;  and 
the  flourishing  state  of  your  church,  and  the  improvement 

1  Even  in  kingly  Kensington  it  could  be  said,  Nov.  37,  1738, 
"The  road  between  this  place  and,  London  is  so  infamously  bad, 
that  we  live  here  in  the  same  solitude  as  we  should  do  if  cast  on  a 
rock  in  the  midst  of  the  ocean.  All  ttie  Londoners  tell  us  there  is 
between  them  and  us  a  great  impassable  gulf  of  m\id." — Lot<jL 
Mervejfs  Met;(oirs,  vol.  ii.  p.  189. 


132  THE  OLD  MEETING-HOUSE. 


of  the  great  advantage  you  enjoy  under  the  ministry  of 
your  pious  and  learned  pastor."  This  was  the  character 
given  of  the  good  folks  by  a  visitor  not  long  after  Dodd- 
ridge's settlement,  and  by  God's  grace  it  was  sustained 
for  many  years. 

The  magic  wand  has  been  waved,  and  the  scene  is 
gone.  We  might  almost  say  that  every  vestige  has 
vanished  of  the  castle  and  the  hill.  A  railway  station 
stands  on  the  spot  where  feudal  ruins  used  to  be ;  old 
mounds  have  been  levelled,  old  hollows  filled  up,  and  the 
old  green  spaces  are  now  covered  with  forests  of  brick 
and  mortar.  The  old  meeting-house  is  now  "  Doddridge 
Chapel."  The  Rev.  Thomas  Arnold,  the  present  hon- 
oured minister,  has  been  obliged  to  make  an  enlargement 
to  meet  the  necessities  of  a  new  population,  and  to  find 
space  for  the  blessing  that  has  been  poured  out  on  his 
labours ;  but  he  has  done  so  by  leaving  as  far  as  pos- 
sible untouched  the  old  square  meeting-house,  simply 
taking  down  the  pulpit  wall,  and  from  that  line  adding 
a  second  square.  To  some  simple  people  the  old  place 
was  so  dear  that  when  these  absolutely  needful  changes 
were  wrought,  all  the  touches  of  the  process  seemed  to 
thrill  through  their  own  life.  Deep  doorways,  graceful 
shafts,  shadowy  depths,  windows  like  sheets  of  richly- 
pictured  light,  spires  that  soar  amid  the  sailing  birds  and 
the  silent  air,  are  all  charming  ;  but  something  may  be 
said  for  the  old  homely  meeting-houses.  They  were  in 
agreement  with  the  opinion  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren, 
that  "a  church  could  not  sq  be  built  as  that  more  than  a 
thousand  in  it  could  hear  well  and  distinctly."  They 
were  adapted  for  auditories,  if  not  for  spectacles  and 
processions;  they  were  places  in  which  average  voices 
could  be  effective  in  all  their  natural  inflections,  and  where 
the  poorest  people  felt  at  home ;  they  hint  of  a  way 
to  build  churches  easily  and  without  debt,  so  as  to  mee| 
the  wants  of  our  increasing  population, — and  now  thejr- 
memories  and  associations  have  a  poetry  of  their  own, 
moving  many  hearts  with  spells  of  solemn  tenderness, 
which  no  new  palaces  of  faith  can  claim. 


XI. 


DODDRIDGE,    KING    GEORGE,   AND  THE 
PRETENDER. 

"  Let  all  that  loue  thy  testament 
With  harts  unfayned  praie, 
That  neuer  more  in  England  here 
The  pope  haue  golden  daie. 

Our  realme  and  queen  defend,  dere  God, 

With  hart  and  minde  I  praie  ; 
That  all  our  foes  may  learne  and  know 

We  haue  a  golden  daie. 

Send  preachers  true,  good  Lord, 

Thy  gospell  to  displaie, 
That  by  their  trauell  they  may  let, 

The  papists' golden  daie." 

Lines  from  "  A  Frendly  Latum,  or  faythfull  warnynge  to 
the  true-hearted  suhiectes  of  England.  Discoueryng  the 
actes  and  malicious  myndes  of  those  obstinate  and  re- 
bellious Papists  that  hope  (as  they  terme  it)  to  haue 
theyr  golden  daie."— John  Phillip,  1570. 

WHEN  the  first  King  George  was  crowned  king  of 
England,  Philip  Doddridge  was  a  schoolboy, 
twelve  years  old.  He  remembered  the  glee  of  the  holi- 
day. All  the  elders  were  then  in  high  delight  with  a  new 
story  about  their  eccentric  minister,  Mr.  Bradbury,  but 
which  he  himself  understood  in  after  years  better  than  he 
did  at  the  time.  On  Sunday  morning,  August  1,  17 14, 
the  day  when  the  infamous  Schism  Bill  was  to  come  into 
operation,  Mr.  Bradbury  was  crossing  Smithfield  on  his 
way  to  meeting.  His  old  friend,  Bishop  Burnet,  was 
driving  past  him,  but,  struck  with  a  look  of  deep  trouble 


134 


DODDRIDGE,  KING  GEORGE, 


in  his  face,  he  stopped  the  carriage,  and  asked  what  he 
was  thinking  about  ?  "  I  am  thinking,"  said  he,  "  whether 
I  shall  have  the  constancy  and  resolution  of  the  noble 
army  of  martyrs,  whose  ashes  are  in  this  place;  for  most 
assuredly  I  expect  to  see  similar  times  of  violence  our- 
selves, and  that  I  shall  be  called  to  suffer  in  the  like 
cause."  "Cheer  up,'' said  the  Bishop;  "the  queen  is 
very  ill ;  the  doctors  expect  every  hour  to  be  her  last, 
and  I  am  now  going  to  court  to  learn  particulars."  He 
further  promised  to  send  him  the  very  earliest  intelligence 
of  the  queen's  death,  and  that  if  he  should  happen  to  be 
in  the  pulpit  when  the  despatch  arrived,  the  messenger 
should  drop  a  handkerchief  from  the  gallery  as  a  sign. 
While  he  was  preaching,  a  handkerchief  Buttered  from  the 
gallery.  The  queen  was  gone,  and  the  persecuting  act 
was  now  a  dead  letter  I  He  finished  the  sermon,  returned 
thanks  to  Almighty  God  for  deliverance,  and  implored  a 
blessing  on  King  George  the  First  and  the  House  of 
Hanover ;  the  congregation  then  sang  the  eighty-ninth 
Psalm.  So  it  came  to  pass  that  the  first  public  prayer 
offered  in  England  for  the  present  royal  family,  was 
offered  in  a  dissenting  meeting-house. 1 

The  Dissenters,  one  and  all,  were  Hanoverians  to  the 
backbone.  Put  yourself  in  their  place,  and  you  will  not 
wonder.  They  were  thrilling  with  the  wrongs  inflicted 
by  the  Stuarts.  Fire  was  still  in  their  wounds  The 
memories  of  fines,  prisons,  and  civil  disabilities  for  con- 
science' sake  were  in  their  first  sharpness.  Almost  every 
family  had  its  own  story  of  hero  or  confessor,  most  dear 
and  reverend,  a  story  to  make  the  blood  boil.  Besides 
the  historical  reasons  for  the  stand  they  took,  these  Stuarts 
had  now  become  the  poor  tools  of  France  ;  and  by  a  law 
of  continuity,  development,  or  evolution,  their  arrogant 
ritualism  had  turned  into  Popery.  The  determination 
of  the  Nonconformists  was  unutterably  intense  and  reso- 
lute not  to  have  this  intolerable  tyranny  back  again,  and 
not  to  think  for  a  moment  of  taking  orders  from  a  king 

1  Wilson's  "Dissenting  Churches,"  vol.  iii.  p.  513. 


AND  THE  PRETENDER. 


135 


who  had  another  king's  orders  in  his  pocket  and  a  swarm 
of  Jesuits  in  his  train. 

They  were  not  strong  numerically.  At  the  time  of  the 
revolution,  "  the  whole  body  constituted  about  the  one 
hundredth  portion  of  the  inhabitants  of  England  and 
Wales,  or  a  little  more  than  a  hundred  and  ten  thousand 
persons."1  From  a  list  of  dissenting  churches  drawn  up 
in  17 16,  it  appears  that  they  were  still  declining.  Mosheim, 
writing  in  1740,  says,  "Those  who  are  best  acquainted 
with  the  state  of  the  nation,  tell  us  that  the  dissenting 
interest  declines  from  day  to  day." 2  All  through  the 
fifty  years  of  Doddridge's  life  it  was  steadily  diminish- 
ing in  numbers,  and  when  he  died,  there  could  not  have 
been  in  connection  with  it,  more  than  one  thousand  con- 
gregations over  an  area  where  there  are  many  thousands 
now.  3  Doubtless  the  good  fathers  derived  what  comfort 
they  could  from  the  thought  that,  in  this  bad  world,  those 
who  have  the  best  of  the  argument  have  often  the  worst 
of  the  vote  ;  still,  it  was  a  stubborn  fact  that  if  they  had 
any  power  in  the  commonwealth,  it  was  not  the  power 
of  numbers.  They  had,  however,  the  power  of  character, 
resulting  from  their  own  pecuiiar  heredity  and  religious 
education ;  the  power  of  industrial  enterprise,  the  power 
of  earnestness  and  unity  in  the  cause  of  political  and 
religious  freedom — power  all  the  more  marked  by  the 
prevalent  indifference  to  these  questions  :  so,  all  things 
considered,  they  were  regarded  as  staunch  helpers  of  the 
Walpole  ministry  and  strong  defenders  of  the  throne. 

Their  enthusiasm  was  all  the  more  valued  from  its 
contrast  with  the  prevalent  indifference.  While  enemies 
were  lively,  and  plotters  were  plotting  at  home  and  abroad, 
friends  were  dull.  During  all  the  earlier  years  of  the 
Hanoverian  dynasty,  it  seemed  quite  as  likely  as  not  that 
the  Stuarts  would  be  restored.  Many  High  Churchmen 
who  were  reckoned  loyal,  simply  acquiesced  in  the  rule 

*  Skeate's  "  History  of  the  Free  Churches  in  England,"  p.  151. 

2  Moshcim's  "  Ecclesiastical  History,"  vol.  vi.  p.  33. 

3  The  appendices  to  Mr.  Barclay's  work,  entitled  " Public  Worship 
in  England,"  furnish  very  full  and  trustworthy  historical  statistics. 


136  DODDRIDGE,  KING  GEORGE, 

of  George  as  king  de  facto,  but  would  have  been  quite  as 
well  pleased  to  transfer  it  to  one  whom  they  thought  king 
de  jure.  Many  Low  Churchmen  only  cared  to  keep  him 
in  that  they  might  keep  Popery  out  The  second  king 
in  the  line  was  not  much  more  firmly  enthroned  than 
the  first :  there  was  always  a  secret  spirit  working  against 
him  at  the  universities  ;  lovers  of  literature  and  of  the 
fine  arts  were  not  charmed  into  fealty  by  his  blunt  words 
in  disfavour  of  "  boetry  and  bainting  ;  "  the  court  immor- 
alities, if  not  more  outrageous  than  in  the  Carolrst  period, 
were  perhaps  less  refined.  The  king  knew  little  of  our 
language,  nothing  of  our  ways  ;  he  might  be  served  from 
expediency,  or  from  necessity,  or  from  conscience,  but 
never  from  king-worship.  What  was  left  in  the  land  of  the 
old,  violent,  unreasonable,  dangerous  romance  of  Cavalier 
loyalty,  was  all  on  the  side  of  the  Stuarts.  Pindaric  odes 
would  sometimes  be  given  in  the  Northampton  Mercury 
and  other  papers  to  celebrate  the  praise  of  "  Caroline,  and 
the  god-like  George  ;  "  but  there  was  always  a  false  ring 
in  their  music.  When  he  took  his  constitutional  in  St. 
James's  Park,  no  muse  quite  sober  would  think  of  saying 
about  it,  as  about  the  ride  of  any  other  king,  "  When  his 
majesty  and  his  staff  rode  along  the  avenue,  the  quivering 
trees  bent  down,  the  sunbeams  trembled  curiously  fearful 
through  the  green  foliage,  and  in  the  blue  heaven  above 
him  floated  visibly  a  golden  star."1  Clearly,  his  influence 
did  not  lie  in  his  personality  ;  but  too  much  has  been  said 
about  this, — he  had,  and  deserved  to  have,  influence  of 
another  kind  ;  for  his  throne  was  the  symbol  of  safety, 
liberty  of  religion,  and  the  independence  of  the  nation. 
Whatever  he  was  as  a  man,  he  was  faithful,  honest,  and 
true  as  a  constitutional  monarch,  never  forgetting  that  his 
reign  was  established  on  the  basis  of  a  compact  with  the 
people,  instead  of  on  the  basis  of  the  Divine  right  of  kings; 
and  when  he  died,  his  official  merits  were  thus  fairly 
summed  up  by  President  Davies  of  Princeton  :  "  Can 
the  British  annals,  in  the  compass  of  seventeen  hundred 
years,  produce  a  period  more  favourable  to  liberty,  peace, 
prosperity,  commerce,  and  religion  ?  In  this  happy  reign, 
1  Heine. 


AND  THE  PRETENDER. 


137 


the  prerogative  meditated  no  invasion  of  the  rights  of  the 
people,  nor  attempted  to  exalt  itself  above  the  law.  He 
never  usurped  the  prerogative  of  heaven  by  assuming  the 
sovereignty  of  conscience,  or  the  conduct  of  the  human 
understanding  in  matters  of  faith  and  religious  speculation. 
He  had  deeply  imbibed  the  principles  of  liberty,  and  could 
well  distinguish  between  the  civil  rights  of  society,  and  the 
sacred  rights  of  religion.  He  knew  the  nature  of  man  and 
of  Christianity  too  well  to  imagine  that  the  determina- 
tions of  human  authority,  or  the  sanctions  of  penal  law, 
could  convince  the  mind  of  any  one  of  Divine  truth  and 
duty  ;  or  that  the  imposition  of  uniformity  in  minute 
points  of  faith,  or  in  the  forms  of  worship  and  ecclesias- 
tical government,  was  consistent  with  free  inquiry  and  the 
rights  of  private  judgment,  without  which  genuine  Chris- 
tianity cannot  thrive,  though  the  external  grandeur  of  the 
Church  may  flourish."  We  are  not  given  to  heat  ourselves 
nervously  about  abstractions.  These  principles  were 
then  regarded  by  most  Englishmen  as  mere  abstractions 
quite  out  of  their  world.  Persons  are  more  influential 
than  principles;  personally,  the  king  was  not  popular;  at 
times,  therefore,  his  government  was  not  strong. 

When  the  Kingston  schoolboy  became  a  man,  he  did 
a  man's  work  for  the  cause.  There  was  plenty  for  him 
to  do.  His  Kibworth  rustics  might  not  have  been  behind 
their  polite  brethren  in  zeal,  but  we  find  that  in  the 
case  of  one  of  them,  at  least,  the  zeal  was  not  according 
to  knowledge.  When,  in  1724,  Pope  Benedict  XIII. 
died,  the  news  came  to  this  brother,  coupled  with  the 
alarming  information  that  the  Pretender  had  been  unani- 
mously elected  by  the  bishops  to  be  the  new  Pope.  He  lost 
no  time  in  communicating  this  to  his  pastor,  who  of  course 
had  to  act  accordingly.  We  are  told  that  on  the  death 
of  King  George  the  First,  in  1727,  he  preached  a  sermon 
in  which  he  expressed  his  attachment  to  the  House  of 
Brunswick,  and  took  occasion  with  "  great  warmth  and 
eloquence,"  to  indoctrinate  his  flock  in  "the  principles 
which  seated  them  on  the  throne."  1  The  rage  of  the 
1  "  Correspondence,"  note  i.  p.  327. 


I38  DODDRIDGE,  KING  GEORGE, 


Jacobites,  more  than  once  spent  upon  him  in  the  earlier 
years  of  his  life  at  Northampton,  is  an  indication  not 
only  of  his  prominence,  but  of  his  influence  in  the  cause 
of  Protestantism  and  loyalty,  the  interests  of  which  in 
England,  just  then,  were  looked  upon  by  all  parties  as 
practically  identical.  His  sentiments  as  to  the  con- 
nection between  the  hopes  of  Popery  in  the  land  and  the 
hopes  of  the  Pretender  are  given  in  a  sermon  on  "  The 
Iniquity  of  Persecution,"  which  sermon  was  the  last  of  a 
course  on  this  topic,  delivered  early  in  the  year  1736.1 

As  years  went  on,  there  were  from  time  to  time 
whispers  of  intrigues  in  favour  of  the  Pretender,  and  a 
suspicion  of  dangerous  machinery  working  behind  the 
scenes.  Christian  patriots  had  a  deepening  sense  of  the 
national  insecurity  from  the  growing  audacity  of  irreligion. 
Doddridge's  opinions  on  this  subject  were  impressively 
given  in  a  sermon  published  in  1740,  entitled  "Refor- 
mation necessary  to  success  in  War." 

In  June,  1 743,  Colonel  Gardiner  passed  several  pleasant 
days  with  his  friend  at  Northampton,  who  said  in  review : 
"  While  he  was  with  us,  he  appeared  deeply  affected 
with  the  sad  state  of  tilings  as  to  religion  and  morals ; 
and  seemed  to  apprehend  that  the  rod  of  God  was 
hanging  over  so  sinful  a  nation.  He  observed  a  great 
deal  of  disaffection,  which  the  enemies  of  the  Government 
had,  by  a  variety  of  artifices,  been  raising  in  Scotland  for 
some  years ;  and  the  number  of  Jacobites  there,  together 
with  the  defenceless  state  in  which  our  island  then  was, 
with  respect  to  the  number  of  its  forces  at  home  (of 
which  he  spoke  at  once  with  great  concern  and  astonish- 
ment), led  him  to  expect  an  invasion  from  France  and 
an  attempt  in  favour  of  the  Pretender,  much  sooner  than 
it  happened.  I  have  heard  him  say  many  years  before  it 
came  so  near  being  accomplished,  'that  a  few  thousands 
might  have  a  fair  chance  of  marching  from  Edinburgh  to 
Eondon  uncontrolled,  and  throw  the  whole  kingdom  into 
an  astonishment.'"2 

1  "Correspondence,"  vol.  iii.  pp.  123,  124. 
»  "Life  of  Colonel  Gardiner,"—"  Works." 


AND  THE  PRETENDER. 


139 


"  I  should  be  glad,"  wrote  the  Colonel  to  him,  later  in 
the  year,  "  to  hear  what  wise  and  good  people  among  you 
think  of  the  present  circumstances  of  things.  For  my 
own  part,  though,  I  thank  God,  I  fear  nothing  for  myself, 
my  apprehensions  for  the  public  are  very  gloomy,  con- 
sidering the  deplorable  prevailing  of  almost  all  kinds  of 
wickedness  amongst  us — the  natural  consequence  of  the 
contempt  of  the  gospel.  I  am  daily  offering  my  prayers 
to  God  for  this  sinful  land  of  ours,  over  which  His  judg- 
ments seem  to  be  gathering ;  and  my  strength  is  some- 
times so  exhausted  with  these  strong  cries  and  tears 
which  I  pour  out  before  God  on  this  occasion,  that  I 
am  hardly  able  to  stand  when  I  rise  from  my  knees."  1 

Septentrione  pandetar  malum — "  Out  of  the  north  evil 
shall  break  forth."  These  words,  as  appropriated  at  the 
time  by  one  who  was  watching  events,  came  true.  July 
24,  1745,  Charles  Edward  Stuart  embarked  from  Brittany 
and  set  up  his  standard  in  Scotland,  meaning  to  over- 
throw the  government  of  Great  Britain,  and  on  behalf  of 
his  father  to  demand  the  throne.  Even  then,  the  real 
danger  was  in  the  fact  that  the  people  generally  felt  no 
personal  interest  in  their  king,  and  that  their  souls  had 
been  sent  fast  asleep  by  their  bodies.  "  I  suppose,"  said 
Horace  Walpole,  when  told  that  the  Pretender  had  landed, 
"  that  the  people  may  perhaps  look  on  and  cry,  '  Fight, 
dog,  fight,  bear!'"  "When  the  late  war  broke  out," 
wrote  Lord  Hardwicke,  in  1749,  "I  believe  most  men 
were  convinced  that  if  the  rebels  had  succeeded,  Popery 
as  well  as  slavery  would  have  been  the  certain  conse- 
quence ;  and  yet,  what  a  faint  resistance  did  the  people 
make  in  any  part  of  the  kingdom!"2  "These  state- 
ments," as  says  Mr.  Lecky,  "are  very  remarkable,  and 
especially  as  this  apathy  was  not  due  to  any  sympathy 
with  the  Pretender." 

On  September  4th,  the  Pretender  was  proclaimed  at 
Perth.  On  the  6th,  Charles  Wesley  wrote  in  his  diary, 
"The  night  we  passed  in  prayer.  I  read  there  are 
'  "Life  of  Colonel  Gardiner." 

a  "  Marchmont  Papers,"  quoted  by  Lecky,  vol.  i.  p.  468. 


140  DODDRIDGE,  KING  GEORGE, 


heavy  tidings  out  of  the  north.  The  lion  is  come  out 
of  the  thicket,  and  the  destroyer  of  the  Gentiles  is  on  his 
way."  1  About  a  fortnight  after  this,  it  became  plain  that 
there  would  be  an  engagement  at  Prestonpans,  near 
Colonel  Gardiner's  house.  There  was  grave  reason  for 
apprehension,  for  "  In  all  wars,  battles  are  but  the 
crises  of  the  campaign,  the  tests  of  strength  long  trained 
and  long  tried.  People  are  victorious  by  reason  of  what 
they  were  before  the  battle."2  On  September  20th,  the  first 
battle  of  the  campaign  was  fought,  the  king's  troops  were 
defeated,  and  our  brave  colonel  was  entangled  by  a 
scythe,  dragged  from  his  horse,  and  then  killed  with  the 
blow  of  a  Lochabar  axe  at  the  back  of  his  head.  Dod- 
dridge was  not  proud  of  his  old  college-mate,  Sir  John 
Cope,  the  commander  of  the  forces  ;  it  appeared  to  him 
that  this  fatal  issue  was  very  much  the  result  of  his  in- 
competency, yet  most  especially  of  his  slights  to  Gardiner; 
and  in  a  letter  written  in  the  following  year  are  these 
words : 

"He,"  Gardiner,  "told  a  friend  of  his,  that,  humanly 
speaking,  the  king's  forces  must  be  defeated ;  and  declared 
his  resolution  of  dying  in  his  duty,  if  he  were,  as  he 
expected  to  be,  deserted.  His  counsel,  though  his  ex- 
perience was  so  great,  and  knowledge  of  the  ground  so 
perfect,  that  almost  that  single  circumstance  rendered  His 
advice  of  the  greatest  importance  imaginable,  was  not 
asked  at  all,  nor  at  all  regarded  ;  and  such  a  disposition 
made,  and  such  measures  taken,  that  had  the  General 
been  indeed  in  the  pay  of  the  rebels,  without  joining 
them,  it  would  be  difficult  to  say  how  he  could  more 
effectually  have  served  them.'' 3 

In  November,  "the  Young  Pretender"  at  the  head  of 
his  Highlanders  set  out  for  London.  Comfortable  people 
were  much  disturbed  in  their  minds  at  the  thought  of  a 
visit  from  these  "  salvages."  No  one  knew  anything 
about  them.    No  explorer  had  ever  dared  or  cared  to 

*  Jackson's  "Life  of  Charles  Wesley,"  vol.  i.  p.  428. 

*  "Against  the  Stream,"  chap.  ix.  3  Wilson  MSS. 


AND  THE  PRETENDER. 


I4I 


push  up  into  their  far-away  frosty  fastnesses  in  "the  land 
of  night  and  wonder,  and  the  terrible  unknown,"  to  see 
what  they  were  like.  It  was  supposed  that  they  were 
like  no  known  human  specimens.  They  were  things  not 
to  be  reasoned  with  ;  not  even  to  be  fought  with  as  men 
of  war ;  but  fierce,  foul  creatures, — creatures,  which  at  a 
whistle  from  their  masters  were  ready  to  fly  at  us,  and  to 
rush  yelling  over  the  land  with  blind  and  terrible  fury, 
making  an  ignominious  "  abomination  of  desolation." 
The  mutilated  faces  of  soldiers  from  Prestonpans — soldiers 
who  had  been  thus  used  after  they  had  asked  for  quarter, 
and  then  had  been  allowed  to  crawl  away  in  misery — ■ 
showed  what  they  could  do.  Thoughts  of  Highlanders  and 
Frenchmen,  of  the  Pope  and  the  Pretender,  all  confused 
into  one  horror,  suddenly  mastered  many  people,  and 
changed  their  supineness  into  a  pitiful  panic.  If  they 
were  prepared  for  anything,  it  was  for  flight.  There  was 
a  violent  run  on  the  Bank  of  England.  Yet  there  were 
fine  exceptions.  The  nobility  began  to  raise  regiments. 
Leaders  in  the  Church  of  England,  in  the  Kirk  of 
Scotland,  and  in  the  Nonconformist  Churches,  sent  out 
printed  addresses  to  rouse  the  loyalty  of  their  several 
communities.  For  particulars,  read  the  due  chronicles  ; 
we  only  allude  to  them  in  a  degree  just  necessary  to  explain 
the  part  that  was  being  taken  by  Doddridge.  While 
these  movements  were  going  on  we  find,  from  a  com- 
parison of  dates,  that  he  was  first  in  the  field.  He  had 
already  been  at  work,  trying  to  get  the  Earl  of  Halifax 
to  raise  a  corps  of  volunteers  in  the  county.  In  a 
letter  addressed  to  him  by  the  Earl  of  Halifax  on  the  day 
before  the  fatal  battle,  there  is  an  answer  to  this  sug- 
gestion. 

"Your  letter,"  says  the  Earl,  "confirmed  me  in  my 
opinion  of  the  necessity  of  showing  an  early  zeal  in  the 
defence  of  all  that  is  dear  to  us,  and  I  should  forthwith 
have  made  my  proposal  to  his  Majesty" — of  endeavour  to 
raise  a  regiment  in  and  about  Northampton — "but  that 
the  advice  of  some  friends  convinced  me  that,  as  this 
rebellion  is  not  yet  considered  in  so  serious  a  light  as  to 


142  DODDRIDGE,  KING  GEORGE, 


render  any  extraordinary  offer  of  this  nature  acceptable  to 
those  in  power,  I  had  better  wait  until  the  exigency  would 
better  justify  them.  I  cannot  say  that  I  totally  concur  in 
their  opinion,  but  as  I  would  not,  upon  consideration, 
appear  officious  in  my  zeal,  which  has  not  now,  or  ever 
shall  have,  any  other  motive  than  the  support  of  his 
Majesty's  royal  family  and  the  true  interest  of  the  people, 
'  I  resolved  for  the  present  to  waive  my  purpose.'' 

The  Earl  asked  the  Doctor  to  dine  with  him  at  Horton 
on  the  following  Monday,  for  the  purpose  of  discourse 
on  the  subject.  The  result  of  this  conference  was,  that 
in  the  following  week  "a  large  assembly  of  gentlemen," 
Dr.  Doddridge  specially  included,  met  at  the  George  Inn, 
Northampton,  at  his  lordship's  invitation,  who  then  de- 
livered "a  very  eloquent  and  animated  speech"  on  public 
affairs,  and  proposed  that  an  attempt  should  be  immedi- 
ately and  strenuously  made  "  to  raise  and  maintain  a  body 
of  forces  in  and  about  Northampton."  At  the  conclusion 
of  this  speech,  a  paper  was  signed  by  every  gentleman 
present,  expressing  readiness  to  support  the  proposal. 
After  that,  the  Doctor  printed  a  circular,  dated  September 
26th,  addressing  it  to  persons  of  influence  in  the  county,  in 
which  he  explained  the  details  of  the  plan,  and  urged  the 
reasons  for  it.    In  this  he  says  : 

"  I  had  taken  care  to  engage  about  fourteen  or  sixteen 
of  the  leading  persons  in  my  congregation  to  join  me  in 
desiring  his  lordship  to  make  this  proposal ;  and  am  now, 
in  concurrence  with  them,  endeavouring  to  engage  the 
names  of  as  large  a  number  as  I  can,  who  may  be  willing 
to  promote  the  design,  either  by  their  contribution,  or 
their  personal  service ;  and  I  am  writing  letters  to  be  sent 
by  special  messengers  to  all  the  dissenting  ministers  in 
the  neighbourhood,  to  engage  them  to  do  the  like;  in 
consequence  of  which  I  hope  that  we  shall  have  a  large 
body  of  men  present,  by  the  middle  of  next  week  at  farthest, 
to  receive  the  arms  which  will  probably  be  sent  down  by 
the  Government,  and  to  enter  upon  their  exercise  within 
a  few  days ;  and  the  character  of  many  of  those  who  I 


AND  THE  PRETENDER. 


143 


know  will  be  personally  engaged  will  do  a  great  credit  to 
the  undertaking."  1 

One  of  the  doctor's  pupils,  a  son  of  Lord  Kilkerran, 
bore  the  colours  of  the  regiment.  A  letter  addressed  to 
Dr.  Clark,  October  13th,  thus  alludes  to  his  labour  in 
procuring  volunteers :  "I  carried  my  lord  yesterday,  twenty- 
four  brave  soldiers  ;  if  I  may  guess  at  them  by  their  looks, 
the  very  best  that  were  brought  him.  We  join  in  a  weekly 
contribution  when  they  are  to  march  out,  but  I  am  in  great 
hope  the  rebels  will  quickly  disperse  without  a  battle,  else 
I  fear  it  will  be  a  very  obstinate  one.  We  have  had  re- 
newed days  of  fasting  and  prayer.  May  God  return  some 
remarkable  answer.  Hitherto  it  hath  been  by  terrible 
things  in  righteousness."  2 

The  invaders  were  still  on  their  march  to  London, 
"  with  a  full  purpose  to  throw  into  confusion  and  sack 
the  city."  3  They  meant  to  take  Northampton  in  their 
way,  acting  of  course  in  the  same  fashion.  Our  friends 
were  on  a  constant  look-out  for  these  unw  elcome  visitors, 
and  we  may  be  sure  that  when  they  woke  in  the  night, 
Fancy  often  heard  "the  measured  steps  of  marching  men." 
The  Duke  of  Cumberland,  writing  to  Marshal  Wade  on 
December  4th,  having  alluded  to  his  halt  at  Stafford  at 
the  time  of  his  letter,  says,  "  From  whence  we  shall  march 
without  any  halt  to  Northampton,  where  we  hope  to  give 
them  battle,  as  it  is  an  open  country."  *  Four  days  after 
this  intention  was  expressed  by  the  Duke,  that  is,  on  De- 
cember 8th,  Dr.  Doddridge  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Secretary 
of  State.  This  interesting  document,  lately  found  by  Dr. 
Waddington  in  the  State  Paper  Office,  contains  a  string 
of  urgent,  practical  queries,  which  the  writer  said  he 
should  not  have  presumed  to  offer,  "had  it  not  been  for 
this  late  alarm  at  Northampton,  which  seemed  to  bear  so 
threatening  an  aspect  even  on  London;"  they  all  bear  on 

1  "  Correspondence,"  vol.  iv.  p.  439. 

1  Ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  442.  3  State  Papers. 

4  State  Tapers.  All  the  State  Papers  quoted  in  this  chapter  are 
those  discovered  by  Dr.  Waddington,  and  referred  to  by  him  in  his 
"Congregational  History,  1700-1800,"  chap.  x. 


i44 


DODDRIDGE,  KING  GEORGE, 


the  importance  of  the  Government  encouraging  the  form- 
ation of  volunteer  troops  all  over  the  country.  He  asks  : 
"  Might  not  some  good  use  be  made  of  the  zeal  of 
thousands  of  able-bodied  men  in  different  stations,  who 
would  gladly  learn  discipline  and  serve  on  occasion  near 
home,  if  properly  authorised,  under  gentlemen  of  approved 
attachment  to  the  Government  ?  Perhaps,  ten  thousand 
such  might  be  raised  in  this  country,  who,  though  not  to 
be  depended  on  as  reguDr  forces,  might  on  one  exigence 
do  something,  and  by  their  numbers  greatly  discourage 
an  enemy  without  expense  to  the  public." 

In  the  course  of  this  letter  he  says,  "  Had  the  rebels 
come  hither,  I  would  have  engaged  that  my  friends  and 
acquaintance  in  the  neighbouring  parts  of  the  country 
should  have  brought  the  Duke  a  thousand,  if  he  had 
desired,  in  the  twelve  hours'  time  ;  and  I  don't  doubt  he 
might,  in  twenty  four  hours  have  had  double  or  treble  the 
number,  on  the  interest  of  six  or  eight  gentlemen  in  the 
neighbourhood,  had  their  concurrence  been  requested  ; 
and  I  am  confident  the  persons  concerned  would  have 
rejoiced  in  such  an  opportunity  of  serving  his  Majesty  and 
the  country."  1 

When  Charles  Edward  heard  at  Derby  of  the  warm  re- 
ception awaiting  him  at  Northampton,  he  turned  back  to 
Scotland.  From  that  moment  everything  went  against 
him.  His  precipitate  flight  from  Stirling,  early  in  the 
following  year,  furnished  the  topic  of  his  sermon  preached 
by  Doddridge,  February  9,  1746,  and  then  printed  under 
the  title  of  "Deliverance  out  of  the  Handsof  our  Enemies." 
At  last,  the  terrible  surgery  of  Duke  William  eradicated 
the  evil  from  the  land,  when,  on  April  16,  1746,  was 
fought  the  decisive  battle  of  Culloden.  We  still  shudder 
at  the  name.  "The  'Order  Book  '  of  the  Duke,"  says 
Dr.  Waddington,  "  recently  published,  shows  that  the 
troops  were  firmly  held  in  check,  and  warned  against  all 
violence  and  disorder."  Some  of  the  soldiers,  however, 
were  not  more  civilised  than  the  Highlanders.    We  know 


*  State  Papers. 


AND  THE  PRETENDER. 


145 


that  their  immorality  was  great.  "  This,"  Doddridge 
had  said  to  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  "  I  am  exceedingly 
sorry  to  say,  makes  the  British  forces  infamous  beyond 
most  in  the  world,  and,  forgive  me  that  I  must  say  it,  the 
Guards  beyond  all  the  rest."  1  It  is  to  be  feared  that 
there  is  too  much  truth  in  the  old  stories  of  atrocities 
after  the  battle.  We  are  reminded  that,  exactly  on  the 
next  anniversary  of  it,  he  wrote  and  printed  a  tract,  en- 
titled "  A  Friendly  Letter  to  the  Private  Soldiers  in  a  Regi- 
ment of  Foot,  one  of  those  engaged  in  the  Important  and 
Glorious  Battle  of  Culloden:  "  the  object  being  faithful 
reproof  of  the  sins  common  in  the  army,  and  earnest  in- 
vitation to  the  Saviour. 

While  our  good  man  was  rejoicing  to  think  of  the 
great  blow  to  Popery  that  had  at  last  been  given,  his  joy 
was  suddenly  dashed  by  a  new  trouble,  and  that  was  the 
discovery  that  two  of  the  sentenced  lords  were  Presby- 
terians !  He  poured  out  his  heart  in  these  words  to 
Mrs.  Doddridge,  dated  London,  August  9,  1746.  "Lord 
Kilmarnock  and  Lord  Cromartie,"  said  he,  "  have,  to  my 
great  grief,  declared  themselves  Presbyterians !  The  former 
is  attended  by  Mr.  Foster;2  the  latter  by  Mr.  Chandler, 
who  says,  I  am  told,  that  he  finds  him  in  a  fine  temper. 
Lady  Cromartie  was  here  this  day  at  Dr.  Hughes's,  and 
desired  that  there  might  be  a  meeting  of  ministers  to 
spend  some  time  in  prayer,  on  her  account  and  his  lord- 
ship's. She  is  a  fine  and  very  pious  young  woman.''  3  In 
another  letter  he  says  to  her,  "  I  visited  Mr.  Chandler  on 
Saturday,  who  gave  me  a  large  account  of  the  excellent 
temper  and  behaviour  of  Lord  Cromartie,  and  of  the 

1  State  Papers. 

2  This  was  Dr.  Foster,  the  eloquent  but  sceptical  Baptist,  of 
whom  Tope  had  said  : 

"  Let  modest  Foster,  if  he  will,  excel 
Ten  metropolitans  in  preaching  well." 

3  Ten  years  before  this  he  had  accepted  the  pastorate  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Church  at  Pinner's  Hall,  "from  which  circumstance,"  Mr. 
Wilson  remarks,  "he  appears  to  have  been  an  advocate  for  free- 
communion." — Wilson's  History  of  Dissenting  Churches,  vol.  ii. 
p.  276. 

II 


146  DODDRIDGE,  KING  GEORGE, 


reasons  on  which  the  King  and  Council  have  proceeded 
in  determining  his  pardon,  which  I  think  very  con- 
siderable." 

The  poor  Lords,  Kilmarnock  and  Balmerino,  suffered 
August  1 8th.  Dr.  Doddridge,  writing  from  London, 
calls  it  "  The  dreadful  work  .  .  .  which  I  would  not  see." 
A  letter  from  a  youth  who  did  see  it,  written  to  his 
brother,  once  one  of  the  Doctor's  students,  may  here  be 
given  for  the  sake  of  its  historic  interest  and  simple, 
graphic  power : 

"  I  yesterday  saw  the  execution  of  the  two  rebel  lords. 
I  was  in  the  house  that  they  went  from  to  be  executed,  and 
shall  give  you  as  particular  account  of  the  whole  affair  as 
I  can.  The  scaffold  on  which  they  were  executed  was 
about  fifty  feet  from  the  above  house  ;  the  entry  of  the 
house  and  the  passage,  from  thence  to  the  stage,  and 
that  also  with  the  steps  that  went  up  to  it,  were  hung 
with  black  baize ;  the  block  and  the  two  new  axes  with 
which  they  were  beheaded  were  brought  to  this  house. 
I  saw  them  several  times.  About  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning  the  two  sheriffs  came,  and  also  the  executioner, 
who  was  very  handsomely  dressed.  He  had  on  a  gold 
laced  hat,  a  light  wig,  a  blue  cloth  coat,  and  breeches 
with  brass  buttons  and  gold  vellum  button  holes,  a  white 
waistcoat,  ruffled  shirt,  white  stockings,  and  handsome 
silver  buckles  in  his  shoes.  He  seemed  to  me  to  have 
too  much  modesty  and  humanity  for  one  of  that  pro- 
fession. He  often  laid  his  head  upon  his  hands  and 
leant  against  something  or  other,  said  but  little,  and  was 
very  dull ;  so  much  for  him  at  present. 

"  The  sheriffs  viewed  the  block  and  the  axes  and  went 
on  to  the  scaffold.  About  ten  o'clock"  they  walked  to  the 
Tower  to  receive  their  prisoners.  The  way  was  lined 
with  soldiers,  horse  and  foot,  and  also  a  large  ring  round 
the  scaffold.  They  very  soon  returned  on  foot  in  the 
following  manner  :  Sheriff  Blackford  with  Lord  Kil- 
marnock, who  had  Mr.  Foster  on  his  right  hand  and  a 
young  clergyman  on  his  left,  cousin  to  my  Lord  Hume. 


AND  THE  PRETENDER. 


147 


Kilmarnock  was  a  pretty  tall  man  ;  he  wore  his  own  hair, 
which  was  tied  up  in  a  bag,  was  dressed  in  black  cloth, 
walked  very  upright,  and  looked  very  much  cast  down. 
Foster  talked  to  him  all  the  way  and  with  a  great  deal  of 
earnestness.  Lord  Balmerino  followed  at  some  little 
distance  with  the  other  sheriff.  He  walked  betwixt  two 
gentlemen,  and  there  were  two  clergymen  whom  he  took 
no  notice  of.  He  was  dressed  in  blue  cloth,  turned  up 
and  lined  with  red,  had  brass  buttons,  and  a  scarlet  cloth 
waistcoat,  grey  stockings,  and  a  tie  wig.  He  did  not 
seem  to  be  the  least  concerned,  but  looked  very  bold. 
When  they  came  to  the  house  they  were  conducted  to 
separate  rooms,  which  rooms  I  was  in  several  times 
before  they  came.  There  was  a  table  set  in  the  middle 
of  each  room  with  a  bottle  of  white  wine  on  it  and  half- 
a-dozen  glasses.  I  saw  Kilmarnock  several  times  whilst 
in  his  room.  Mr.  Foster  took  up  most  of  the  time  in 
talking  to  him,  and  prayed  with  him  a  little  before  he 
went  to  execution.  I  can't  tell  how  Balmerino  spent  his 
time,  but  I  believe  in  conversation  and  drinking.  It  was 
about  a  quarter  after  twelve  o'clock  when  Kilmarnock 
went  on  to  the  stage.  I  saw  him  come  out  of  his  room. 
He  looked  as  much  affected  as  you  can  suppose  a  person 
in  his  circumstances.  I  then  went  on  to  my  seat  where 
I  had  as  plain  a  view  as  if  I  had  been  on  the  stage.  He 
was  supported  on  going  up  the  steps  on  to  the  stage  by 
two  gentlemen.  The  clergymen  and  Mr.  Foster  went 
with  them.  Mr.  Foster  talked  with  him  some  little  time. 
Then  the  executioner  came  in  a  very  submissive  manner 
to  him.  He  said  something  to  him,  then  put  his  hands 
in  his  pockets,  and  then  gave  him  something,  which  I 
suppose  was  money.  The  poor  fellow  cried  like  a  child, 
and  I  believe  would  have  fainted  if  a  gentleman  had  not 
applied  some  drops  to  his  nose.  Mr.  Foster  took  his 
leave  of  the  lord,  who  embraced  him.  He  did  not  stay 
to  see  the  execution,  but  went  off  the  stage,  as  did  also 
the  sheriff.  .  .  .  When  he  had  fixed  himself  on  the  block, 
he  lay  near  ten  minutes  before  he  gave  the  signal,  which 
time  I  believe  he  spent  in  prayer,  and  then  he  dropped 


DODDRIDGE,  KING  GEORGE, 


h is  handkerchief.  .  .  .  One  stroke.  .  .  .  The  black  cloth 
i  hat  covered  the  block  and  the  cushion  that  he  knelt 
upon  were  taken  away,  and  others  placed  in  their  room, 
and  fresh  sawdust  strewed  about  the  stage.  Then,  in  a 
very  short  time,  Balmerino  came  on  to  the  stage  with  the 
other  sheriff,  two  clergymen,  and  several  gentlemen.  As 
soon  as  he  was  on  he  looked  all  about  on  the  spectators 
with  such  an  air  of  unconcerneduess  as  I  could  not  have 
thought  was  possible  for  any  person  in  his  circumstances 
to  have  done  had  I  not  been  an  eye  witness  of  it.  As 
soon  as  he  saw  his  coffin  he  went  to  it,  and  read  the 
inscription  ;  he  then  took  off  his  hat  and  laid  it  down 
upon  it ;  talked  to  several  people.  The  executioner  paid 
his  respects  to  him  :  he  gave  him  something,  and  took 
him  by  the  hand  and  went  with  him  to  the  block ;  was 
going  to  lay  his  head  on  the  wrong  side,  found  his  mis- 
take, laid  his  head  on  the  right  way,  and  gave  Jack  Ketch 
instructions  how  he  should  act ;  several  times  putting  his 
hand  to  his  neck.  After  he  got  up  again  he  went  and 
took  his  hat  from  off  the  coffin  and  put  it  under  his  arm, 
walked  about,  and  then  pulled  a  paper  out  of  his  pocket, 
and  his  spectacles,  with  as  careless  an  air  as  you  can 
possibly  suppose.  He  read  the  paper  to  the  sheriff  and 
the  rest  of  the  company.  Before  he  had  done  reading 
the  whole,  he  left  off,  and  went  towards  the  block,  and 
pointed  with  his  hand  ;  returned  again,  and  made  an  end 
of  reading,  then  delivered  the  paper  to  the  sheriff,  pulled 
off  his  spectacles  and  put  them  in  his  pocket,  went  again 
to  his  coffin,  viewed  it  very  narrowly,  and  then  went  to 
the  opposite  side  of  the  stage,  beckoned  up  one  of  the 
warders  of  the  Tower;  as  soon  as  he  came  to  him  he 
pulled  off  his  wig  and  his  neckcloth,  and  gave  them  to 
him  with  his  hat.  He  put  on  a  cap  made  with  cloth, 
then,  having  spoken  to  certain  gentlemen  in  a  very  polite 
manner,  pulled  off  his  waistcoat  with  an  air,  and  laid 
them  upon  his  coffin.  .  .  .  When  he  was  going  to  lay 
himself  down  he  saw  the  axe  in  the  executioner's  hand  ; 
he  took  it  from  him,  and  viewed  it  very  much  ;  then  gave 
him  some  further  directions,  laid  himself  down,  and  rose 


AND  THE  PRETENDER. 


149 


again,  and  pulled  off  a  white  waistcoat,  which  I  suppose 
he  found  ill-convenient,  and  then  laid  himself  down  again, 
and  in  a  minute's  time  gave  the  signal,  and  soon  after 
received  the  fatal  stroke.  ...  I  should  have  observed 
that  the  clergymen  said  nothing  to  him  upon  the  stage, 
nor  he  to  them.  He  seemed  to  have  no  thoughts  of  a 
future  state ;  not  so  much  as  once  lifting  up  his  eyes  or 
hands  to  heaven."  1 

We  are  sorry  for  these  infatuated  men,  and  think  that 
they  might  have  been  rendered  harmless,  and  have  even 
been  sentenced  to  a  political  death  without  all  this 
ghastly  tragedy  ;  but  we  have  not  one  word  to  say  for 
them.  The  common  throng  of  Highlanders  knew  no 
better,  but  these  chiefs  had  been  to  school  and  college. 
Their  conduct  was  madness — but  madness  for  which  they 
were  responsible.  We  have  no  sympathy  with  that  senti- 
mental admiration  of  their  deed  which  has  lately  become 
so  common.  Government  is  bound  to  make  society  safe. 
When  burglars  break  in  upon  us,  whether  on  a  large  or 
on  a  small  scale,  it  is  not  respectable  to  call  them  heroes 
of  romance;  'to  call  it  a  grievance  if  they  happen  to  be 
caught  by  the  police  ;  and,  if  they  happen  to  be  wearing 
a  white  cockade  at  the  time,  to  call  that  "a  flower  of  sad 
poetry."  It  has  been  denied  that  Rome  had  anything  to 
do  with  this  attempt,  and  much  lofty  scorn  has  been  ex- 
pressed of  the  bigotry  that  could  ever  dream  of  such  a 
thing.  But  when  we  read  history — when  we  find  from 
State  Papers 2  written  in  Rome  at  the  time,  that  on  the 
tidings  arriving  of  Charles  Edward's  landing  in  England, 
the  Pope's  secretary  and  several  of  the  cardinals  were 
"  in  almost  continual  conference  with  the  Pretender  and 
Murray,"  and  that  there  appeared  "  in  that  whole  party 
an  inconceivable  joy,  mixed  with  the  highest  insolence  " 

1  Letter  from  Charles  Buxton  to  his  brother  John,  at  Coxall,  in 
Essex.  Furnished  some  years  ago  by  my  esteemed  friend,  the  late 
Travers  Buxton,  Esq. 

2  See  information  from  State  Papers  and  other  authorities  given 
by  Dr.  Waddington,  "Congregational  History,  1700-1800, "  pp. 
348,  352- 


150        DODDRIDGE,  KING  GEORGE,  ETC. 


— when  we  find  that  a  circumstantial  account  of  the 
battle  of  Prestonpans,  and  of  the  fall  of  Colonel  Gar- 
diner, was  printed  in  Italian  and  widely  circulated — when 
we  see  still  remaining  under  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's 
monuments  to  the  Pretender  and  his  Lady  Clementina, 
in  which  the  one  is  styled  "  King  James  III."  and  the 
other  "  Queen  of  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Ireland,"  it 
is  useless  to  tell  us  that  Rome  had  no  complicity  in  the 
mischief  of  1745.  It  has  been  said  there  never  was  any 
danger.  Even  just  after  the  event,  David  King,  of 
Lisbon,  writing  to  Dr.  Doddridge,  congratulated  him  on 
the  defeat  of  Romanism  by  the  suppression  of  the  rebel- 
lion, but  made  merry  at  the  panic  which  had  been  caused 
byva  mere  "rabble  of  ragged  thieves."1  Perhaps  the 
invaders  would  not  have  been  formidable  if  they  had  not 
been  the  tools  of  a  formidable  combination  ;  but,  in  the 
circumstances,  the  crisis  was  one  of  the  greatest  danger 
to  the  throne  and  country,  and  of  this  we  think  that 
thoughtful  people  who  said  so,  and  who  were  living  on 
the  spot  at  the  time,  were  the  best  judges.  Doddridge 
saw  it,  and  we  claim  for  him  the  honour  of  being  the  first 
Englishman  in  a  private  station  who  took  action,  and 
who  roused  his  countrymen  to  the  like,  in  defending  the 
threatened  throne  and  liberties  of  our  land. 

1  He  used  an  equivalent  expression,  but  less  delicately  courteous 
than  this.    Wilson  MSS. 


XII. 


PLANS  FOR  CHRISTIAN  UNION. 


"  How  good  and  how  beseeming  well 
It  is  that  we, 
Who  brethren  be, 
As  brethren  should  in  concord  dwell. 

Like  the  deere  oile  that  Aron  beares, 

Which  fleeting  down 

To  foote  from  crown, 
Embalms  his  beard  and  robe  he  weares. 

Or  like  the  teares  the  morne  doth  shedd, 

Which  ly  on  ground, 

Empearled  round, 
On  Sion  or  on  Hermon's  head. 

For  joined  therewith  the  Lord  doth  give 

Such  grace,  such  blisse, 

That  where  it  is, 
Men  may  for  ever  blessed  live." 

Psalm  exxxiii.  ;  version  by  Sir  PHILIP  SIDNEY. 


WE  gladly  turn  to  the  more  congenial  theme  of 
Christian  catholicity.  Our  souls  rejoice  in  the 
serene  purity  of  this  fresh  air.  In  all  the  last  century 
Doddridge  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  types  we  know 
of  what  is  really  meant  by  the  word  "catholic."  He, 
and  like-minded  "  men  worth  remembering,"  delighted 
to  think  about  plans  for  Christian  union.  Certain  ideal- 
ists thought  that  this  union  might  be  promoted,  if,  in 
some  modified  way,  and  by  some  process  of  "  give  and 
take,"  the  Dissenters  could  be  comprehended  in  the 


152  PLANS  FOR  CHRISTIAN  UNION. 


National  Church.  In  1689,  an  attempt  had  been  made 
to  establish  such  a  scheme  by  Act  of  Parliament,  but  of 
course  it  failed.  In  1746  it  began  to  be  talked  about 
again.  Good  Sir  John  Thorold  was  much  enchanted  by 
the  fancy,  and  writing  to  Doddridge,  December  19,  1747, 
he  said  : 

"  How  desirable  is  union  !  Like  the  precious  ointment 
of  the  sanctuary  it  at  once  exhilarates  and  fortifies  the 
spirits,  and  exhibits  some  foretaste  of  that  everlasting 
pleasure  which  is  at  the  right  hand  of  Him  who  is,  and 
was,  and  is  to  come.  Our  common  adversaries,  the 
emissaries  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  are  too  politic  not  to 
take  advantage  of  the  present  disunited  state  of  Pro- 
testants ;  and  from  this  popular  topic  to  play  off  among 
the  people  the  sounds  of  '  Head  of  the  Church  ; '  '  Vicar 
of  Christ;'  '  Infallibility,' etc.  If  nothing  more  were  to 
be  reaped  from  Protestants  agreeing  together  about  reli- 
gious matters  than  putting  a  stop  to  the  plausible  but 
fallacious  arguments  of  these  sophists,  it  would  be  a  very 
valuable  end  ;  but  there  are  divers  other  considerations 
to  prompt  us  to  this  coalition.  God  grant  that  they  may 
operate  to  their  full  force  on  the  hearts  and  minds  of 
those  whose  interest  and  duty  it  is  to  hold  the  truth  in 
the  unity  of  the  Spirit,  in  the  bond  of  peace,  and  in 
righteousness  of  life  ! " 

In  the  course  of  the  year  the  subject  was  brought  into 
more  prominence  by  a  discussion  which  strangely  arose 
out  of  the  events  related  in  the  last  chapter.  The  Dis- 
senters were  feeling  somewhat  vain-glorious  on  account  of 
their  services  and  sacrifioes  in  the  late  national  crisis. 
Doddridge  leading,  every  one  had  followed  ;  in  many 
instances,  meeting-house  yards  had  been  converted  into 
parade-grounds  ;  ministers  had  become  recruiting  officers; 
all,  in  some  way,  had  rallied  in  defence  of  the  crown, 
and  even  the  Quakers  had  helped  the  army  by  supplying 
the  soldiers  with  flannels.  In  accepting  commissions  as 
volunteers,  our  friends  had  incurred  the  penalties  of  the 


PLANS  FOR  CHRISTIAN  UNION.  I53 


Test  Act,  and  all  the  reward  they  received  was  their 
incidental  inclusion  in  the  Act  of  Indemnity,  and  in  the 
royal  pardon  for  the  rebels.  His  mind  still  freshly 
excited  by  these  facts,  Dr.  Chandler,  who  had  acted  as 
chaplain  to  one  of  the  sentenced  lords,  being  afterwards 
at  Norwich,  went  to  hear  the  bishop,  Dr.  Gooch,  deliver  a 
charge  to  his  clergy.  In  the  course  of  this,  the  bishop 
spoke  in  uncomplimentary  terms  of  the  Nonconformists, 
and  said,  "  The  heads  of  the  rebellion  were  Presbyterians, 
as  appeared  by  those  lords  in  the  Tower  sending  for 
Presbyterian  confessors."  Now,  really,  this  was  almost 
unkind.  Dr.  Chandler  thought  so,  and  on  his  return 
wrote  to  his  lordship  in  remonstrance,  who  "very  hand- 
somely "  replied.  We  are  sure  that  he  meant  no  malice, 
but  had  simply  said  what  was  the  usual  thing  to  say 
"about  that  sort  of  people;"  but  when  he  thought  a 
little,  he  found  that  he  had  been  unfair.  On  coming  to 
town,  shortly  after  this,  he  invited  Dr.  Chandler  to  pay 
him  a  visit.  When  he  did  so,  the  talk  became  increas- 
ingly cordial,  and  at  length  drifted  into  a  debate  on  the 
possibility  of  comprehension.  The  debate  was  resumed 
in  a  second  visit,  when  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury  was  also 
present  The  bishops,  by  the  necessity  of  their  function, 
being  practised  to  the  delicate  adjustment  of  differences — 
in  the  cautious  manipulation  of  things  having  to  do  with 
"  many  men,  many  minds  " — and  in  endeavours  to  make 
their  ecclesiastical  pale  elastic  and  comprehensive,  were 
open  to  any  fair  representation  on  the  subject.  They 
both  favoured  the  new  idea,  and  requested  Dr.  Chandler 
to  wait  on  Archbishop  Herring.  This  he  did,  the  Bishop 
of  Salisbury  being  again  in  the  conference.  There  was 
a  long  conversation,  and  before  parting,  the  archbishop 
said  "that  comprehension  was  a  very  good  thing,  and 
that  he  was  encouraged  to  hope  from  the  piety,  learning, 
and  moderation  of  many  of  the  Dissenters,  this  was  the 
proper  time  to  make  the  attempt."  1  Mr.  Barker,  whose 
letter  to  Doddridge,  February  2,  1748,  contains  all  the 


1  Wilson's  "History  of  Dissenting  Churches,"  vol.  ii.  p.  373. 


154  PLANS  FOR  CHRISTIAN  UNION. 


information  we  have  respecting  the  movement,  was  him- 
self sympathetic  with  it.  Doddridge  sent  an  abstract  of 
this  letter  to  his  friend  Sir  George,  afterwards  Lord, 
Lyttleton,  who,  on  March  19th,  commented  on  it  thus: 
"  The  account  you  give  of  the  conversation  with  Dr. 
Chandler  I  extremely  approve,  and  it  may  in  time  produce 
a  comprehension  which  all  good  men  must  heartily  wish ; 
yet  I  have  my  fears  that,  if  an  attempt  were  now  made  to 
carry  it  into  execution,  it  would  meet  with  difficulties 
which  from  these  fair  beginnings  one  would  not  expect. 
For  there  is  a  great  deal  of  difference  in  things  of  this 
nature  between  talking  and  doing."1 

Doddridge  never  seriously  thought  such  a  scheme  to 
be  practicable  ;  but  courtesy  creates  courtesy,  and  when 
dignitaries  invited  conversation  on  the  subject,  he  was 
pleased  to  take  part  in  it.  In  the  following  August,  being 
at  Lambeth  Palace,  there  was  talk  about  it  between  him 
and  the  archbishop,  of  which  he  thus  wrote  to  his  wife  : 
"  I  was  received  by  his  Grace  in  a  very  obliging 
manner.  I  sat  a  full  hour  with  him  alone,  and  had  as 
free  conversation  as  I  could  have  desired.  It  turned  on 
Archbishop  Leighton  ;  on  the  Rebellion ;  on  the  late 
debates  in  the  House  of  Lords ;  about  the  Scots  non- 
juring  clergy  ;  and  especially  on  the  affairs  of  a  compre- 
hension ; — concerning  which  I  very  evidently  perceive  that 
though  his  Grace  has  most  candid  sentiments  of  his 
dissenting  brethren,  yet  he  has  no  great  zeal  for  attempt- 
ing anything  to  introduce  them  into  the  Church,  wisely 
foreseeing  the  difficulties  with  wJiich  it  might  be  attended  ; 
but  when  I  mentioned  to  him  (in  the  freedom  of  our 
discourse)  a  sort  of  medium  between  the  present  state, 
and  that  of  a  perfect  coalition,  which  was  that  of  acknow- 
ledging our  churches  as  nnschisniatical,  by  permitting 
their  clergy  to  officiate  among  us,  if  desired  ;  which  he 
must  see  had  a  counterpart  of  permitting  dissenting 
ministers  occasionally  to  officiate  in  churches,  it  struck  him 
much  as  a  new  and  important  thought ;  and  he  told  me, 


1  Phillimore's  "  Life  of  Lyttleton,"  p.  408. 


PLANS  FOR  CHRISTIAN  UNION.  155 


more  than  once,  that  I  had  suggested  what  he  should  lay 
up  in  his  mind  for  future  consideration.  If  Providence 
spare  our  lives,  I  question  not  but  I  may  have  an  oppor- 
tunity of  resuming  the  subject,  perhaps  with  some 
advantage,  for  his  Grace  has  been  so  good  as  to  desire 
that  I  would  visit  him  whenever  I  am  in  town." 

Of  course,  the  kind  of  comprehension  thus  dreamt  of  was 
a  beautiful  impossibility.  Right  or  wrong,  where  State 
churches  are — and  where  such  matters  as  articles  of  faith, 
the  priesthood,  the  sacraments,  and  the  province  of  the 
magistrate  in  things  Divine  are  matters,  not  of  expediency, 
but  of  conscience  :  some  Christian  persons  will  be  sure  to 
assent,  some  to  dissent,  and  the  one  class  can  never  be 
comprehended  in  the  other.  If  indeed  it  were  possible 
to  comprehend  Christian  thinkers  representing  all  the 
different  creeds  and  schools  of  thought,  within  some 
bond  of  externalism,  it  could  only  be  for  a  time.  When 
these  persons  came  together  for  teaching  or  for  united 
work,  there  would  be  a  sense  of  tension,  as  of  explosive 
elements  known  to  be  present,  needing  to  be  watched ; 
there  would  be  an  avoidance  of  burning  questions — often 
the  most  important  questions  of  the  day ;  there  would 
often  be  a  temptation  to  cowardly  silence  about  truth,  or 
to  that  skilful  management  of  language  which  is  next 
door  to  a  lie ;  and  there  would  sooner  or  later  be  a 
catastrophe,  proving  that  such  union  is  only  formalism, 
and  that  the  peace  it  glories  in  is  only  death.  In  the 
battle  of  interpretations,  with  our  present  errors  and  weak- 
nesses, and  under  the  circumstances  which  they  have 
created  —  surely  Christian  union  must  not  wait  for  its 
realisation  until  all  Christians  are  comprehended  in  some 
one  visible  church — in  yours,  for  instance,  or  in  mine. 
Living  union  begins  in  a  centre,  not  in  a  circumference. 
Christ  is  the  centre  of  Christian  souls.  The  essential 
oneness  of  believers  is  not  the  attribute  of  the  fold,  but 
of  the  flock.  All  who  belong  to  Christ  are  "  one  flock 
under  one  shepherd ; "  but  that  flock  is  so  large  that  it  needs 
many  folds.  Let  us  try  to  be  fair  to  one  another.  Let 
us  never  stipulate  for  the  suppression  of  any  conscien- 


156  PLANS  FOR  CHRISTIAN  UNION. 


tiously  held  opinion  on  the  part  of  any  tested  Christian 
man,  before  we  give  him  our  hearty  love.  Let  every  one 
— every  one  who  is  now  in  a  communion  with  which  he 
can  agree  in  all  great  Christian  principles,  if  not  in  all 
preferences — every  one,  especially  every  one  who  most 
passionately  longs  for  the  triumph  of  catholicity — keep 
where  he  is  ;  and  try  to  do  his  best  in  the  section  of  the 
great  one  Church  in  which  he  finds  himself,  not  leaving  it 
for  another  if  he  can  help  it.  Let  us  all  most  cherish 
what  is  most  central  in  importance  to  all  Christians  as 
such,  and,  cleaving  to  Christ,  get  more  charity  from 
Christ,  so  shall  we  all  grow  into  unity. 

So  Doddridge  thought  and  acted.  For  his  own  part 
he  was  a  resolute  Nonconformist,  in  the  old  sense  of  the 
term.  Writing  in  1748  to  a  person  who  thought  that  his 
interest  in  discussing  the  question  of  comprehension 
implied  that  he  was  about  to  desert  an  old  standard,  he 
said  :  "  Assure  those  who  may  have  heard  the  report,  that 
though  my  growing  acquaintance  with  many  excellent 
persons,  some  of  them  of  great  eminence  in  the  Estab- 
lishment, increases  those  candid,  respectful  sentiments  of 
that  body  of  Christians  which  I  had  long  entertained ;  yet 
I  am  so  thoroughly  persuaded  of  the  reasonableness  of 
Nonconformity,  and  find  so  many  of  the  terms  of  minis- 
terial conformity  contrary  to  the  dictates  of  my  con- 
science in  the  sight  of  God,  that  I  was  never  less  inclined 
to  submit  to  them,  and  hope  I  shall  not  be  willing  to  buy 
my  liberty  or  life  at  that  price.  But  I  think  it  my  duty 
to  do  my  part  towards  promoting  that  mutual  peace  and 
goodwill  which  I  think  more  likely  than  anything  else, 
either  to  reform  the  Church,  or  else  to  promote  true 
Christianity  both  in  the  Establishment  and  separation  ;  to 
strengthen  the  Protestant  cause,  and  to  defeat  the  designs 
of  our  common  enemies." 

Without  surrenderor  modification  of  distinctive  Church 
principles  on  his  own  part,  or  wishing  for  it  on  the  part  .of 
those  who  in  these  respects  dissented  from  him,  his  simple 
plan  for  Christian  union  was  that  each  Christian  should 
realise  the  vital  union  of  all  Christians  in  Christ.    In  a 


PLANS  FOR  CHRISTIAN  UNION.  157 


sermon  preached  at  a  ministers'  meeting  in  1750,  having 
spoken  of  "  Consolation  in  Christ  "  as  the  property  of  all 
Christians  equally,  he  said  :  "  The  thoughts  of  being 
joint  proprietors,"  in  the  blessings  of  this  consolation, 
"  must  naturally  be  a  source  of  love.  For  every  one  who 
is  admitted  to  a  share  in  these  blessings  is  honoured  and 
adorned  by  them  ;  is  not  only  exhibited  to  us  as  the  object 
of  the  Redeemer's  love  which  surely  should  greatly 
recommend  him  to  ours,  but  is  made  lovely  in  conse- 
quence of  it,  and  that,  with  this  further  important  and 
endearing  circumstance,  that  he  is  destined  by  our  glo- 
rious Master  to  dwell  with  us  and  with  Him  in  a  world  of 
final  and  everlasting  felicity.  Let  our  souls  enter  into  the 
attractive  thought.  However  we  now  be  divided,  if  we 
are  indeed  the  members  of  Christ,  one  temple  shall  at 
length  contain  us  ;  one  anthem  shall  at  length  unite  our 
voices ;  one  object  of  supreme  love  for  ever  fill,  and  by 
ever  filling  animate,  our  hearts.  Such  consolations  have 
we  in  Christ,  and  such  are  the  engagements  in  love  which 
result  from  them."  1 

Sometimes  ministers  find  the  sharpest  test  of  their 
Christian  chivalry  come  in  the  course  of  their  dealings 
with  congregations  locally  nearest  their  own,  and  most  of 
all  with  those  nearest  their  own  in  faith  and  order.  He 
survived  this  test.  His  relations  with  his  Baptist  neigh- 
bours were  most  happy.  Reference  has  already  been  made 
to  his  week- night  services  in  their  meeting-house.  For 
nearly  a  century  it  was  their  practice  to  baptize  in  the 
river  Nene,  thinking  that  they  thus  followed  as  nearly  as 
as  they  could  the  steps  of  the  blessed  Lord  and  His  first 
disciples.  Here  it  was  that  Carey,  the  great  missionary, 
afterwards  made  his  first  public  confession  of  faith.  On 
these  occasions  the  candidates  had  the  use  of  Castle  Hill 
vestry,  because  of  its  nearness  to  the  river.  Tradition 

1  The  dedication  to  the  Rev.  James  Hervey  of  his  sermon  on 
"Christ's  Invitation  to  Thirsty  Souls  ;  "  passages  in  his  introduction 
to  Archbishop  Leighton's  works  ;  the  close  of  his  letter  to  the  Bishop 
of  London  quoted  from  the  Fulham  MSS.  by  Dr.  Waddington,  and 
other  extracts  are  heie  omittid  from  want  of  space. 


158  PLANS  FOR  CHRISTIAN  UNION. 


says  that  Dr.  Doddridge  was  sometimes  present  at  such 
services,  and  has  been  known  to  take  part  in  them  by 
giving  out  a  hymn.  Many  years  after,  aged  persons 
delighted  to  tell  Dr.  Ryland  of  one  particular  instance 
of  his  presence,  when  he  took  off  his  own  gown  and 
put  it  on  the  minister,  with  a  remark  to  him,  heard  by 
all  the  assembly,  on  "  the  solemnity  of  the  ordinance." 


XIII. 


WRITINGS. 

"  Should  the  well-meant  songs  I  leave  behind, 
With  Jesu's  lovers  an  acceptance  find, 
'Twill  heighten  even  the  joys  of  heaven  to  know, 
That  in  my  verse  the  saints  hymn  God  below." 

Bishop  Ken. 

DURING  the  twenty-one  years  of  his  life  at  North- 
ampton, he  printed,  or  got  ready  for  the  press,  fifty- 
three  works.  Some  of  them  were  poly-volumed  ;  so  that 
altogether  they  numbered  twenty  five  thick  tomes,  besides 
thirty-seven  thin  treatises — such  as  pamphlets  and  single 
sermons.  Most  of  these  passed  through  several  editions 
under  his  own  superintendence.  It  would  be  impossible 
to  tell  the  total  number  of  editions  from  first  to  last, 
down  to  the  present  time ;  but,  leaving  out  the  numerous 
issues  of  his  works  in  whole  and  in  part  in  America,  also 
those  in  the  French,  Dutch,  Danish,  and  Welsh  languages, 
and  not  attempting  to  discover  all  published  in  our  Eng- 
lish provincial  towns,  we  have  already  counted  two  hun- 
dred and  nine  editions  of  his  works,  great  and  small,  and 
have  not  yet  finished  counting.  We  include  in  our  enu- 
meration some  that  are  not  in  the  Leeds  edition  of  his 
collected  writings,  in  ten  volumes.  The  first  effect  on 
our  minds,  especially  when  we  recollect  his  other  strenuous 
and  multifarious  labours,  is  wonder  at  his  industry ;  and 
the  next  is  wonder  at  his  popularity;  or,  if  not  that, 
curiosity  as  to  the  secret  of  it.  Copies  of  his  books  have 
been  circulating  in  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  each  copy 


i6o 


WRITINGS. 


has  had  its  own  group  and  succession  of  readers.  The 
cause  of  this  influence  is  not  evident  at  once.  We  are 
not  at  once  struck  with  his  thought,  nor  with  his  art  in 
rendering  thought  into  form.  We  meet  with  little  or  no 
poetry,  no  pith,  no  nerve,  no  tense,  tight  exactness,  no 
sentences  of  the  kind  which  Lady  Mary  Montagu  says 
she  aimed  at  in  her  talk — "short,  clear,  and  surprising;  1 
but  we  must  remember  that  the  men  of  his  day  admired, 
not  these  qualities  of  writing,  but  rather  what  they  called 
"a  flowing  style" — a  style,  the  ideal  of  which  is  given  by 
Dr.  Watts,  who,  when  speaking  of  Joseph  Stennett  as  one 
of  the  three  greatest  preachers  he  had  known,  said,  "  His 
preaching  was  like  a  silver  stream  which  runs  along,  with- 
out bush  or  stones  to  interrupt  it."  1  Writers  and  speakers 
aimed  at  this,  and  were  in  consequence  too  often  open  to 
the  compliment  once  paid  to  the  orator  Anaxamines  when 
he  rose  to  speak — "here  beginneth  a  river  of  words." 
The  style  of  Doddridge  was  popular  because  it  was  a  flow, 
sometimes  strengthening  into  a  rush  of  language,  but  he 
was  far  too  wordy.  Another  cause  of  his  effectiveness  in 
this  kind  of  Christian  work  was  his  own  interest  in  it. 
He  wrote  as  one  who  had  something  to  say,  not  merely 
as  one  who  had  to  say  something.  If  his  thoughts  were 
not  always  deep,  subtle,  or  glorious,  they  were  always 
alive,  his  devotion  was  always  fresh,  and  his  aim  was 
always  practical. 

"The  Family  Expositor"  was  the  magnum  opus  of  his 
life,  the  work  on  which  he  was  engaged  for  twelve  years. 
Even  when  riding  to  an  ordination  service,  or  to  some 
ministers'  meeting,  some  leaves  of  this  with  his  Greek 
Testament  would  be  sure  to  be  stowed  in  the  saddle  bag, 
that  he  might  add  a  line  at  the  first  chance  moment,  or  set 
down  in  hot  haste  before  it  was  lost  some  felicity  of  transla- 
tion. One  day,  just  as  he  had  finished  the  last  volume,  he 
found  it  on  his  desk  in  flames,  with  lighted  sealing-wax 
running  over  it;  and  the  burnt  edges  of  the  manuscript, 

1  Gibbon's  "  Life  of  Dr.  Watts,"  p.  164.  According  to  him,  the 
other  two  great  preachers  were  John  Howe  and  Thomas  Gouge. 


WRITINGS. 


161 


now  preserved  in  Regent's  Park  College  Library,  explain 
the  question  in  the  preface — "  Is  not  this  a  brand  plucked 
from  the  burning?"1 

In  this  work,  the  four  reports  of  the  evangelists  are 
blended  into  one  continuous  narrative,  and  all  through 
the  Testament,  the  precise  forces  and  delicate  meanings 
of  the  great,  strong  Bible  words  were — we  will  not  say 
watered  down,  but  brought  out,  and  diffused  through  the 
many  words  of  a  free  English  version.  All  the  words  of 
the  Authorized  Version  were  still  preserved,  were  with  great 
ingenuity  imbedded  in  the  new,  diluted  sentences,  and 
marked  with  italics,  so  that  the  family  reader  might,  if 
he  pleased,  pick  his  way  warily  on  these  stepping-stones 
without  slipping  into  the  flood  of  the  paraphrase.  When 
it  came  out,  he  received  letters  from  all  quarters  in  its 
praise,  some  wise,  some  otherwise.  "Indeed,"  said  the 
Hon.  Mrs.  Scawen,  "  I  think  it  is  vastly  entertaining." 
Some  readers  have  hesitated  to  say  as  much  ;  but  it  has 
great  merits,  and  if  not  free  from  the  almost  inevitable 
faults  of  a  paraphrase,  and  though  not  distinguished  by 
the  high  expository  excellencies  belonging  to  works  of 
such  men  as  Calvin  or  Beza,  it  has  been  of  great  value  to 
all  churches,  and  biblical  students  still  derive  much  help, 
both  from  the  translation  and  the  notes.  The  fact  that 
twenty-one  editions  of  it,  generally  in  six  volumes,  have 
been  published  in  London  alone,  is  a  witness  to  its  popu- 
larity. Hartwell  Home  has  spoken  of  it  as  "masterly;" 
referring  to  the  second  volume,  Bishop  Warburton  said, 
"The  greatest  thing  I  can  say  of  it  is  that  it  is  equal  to 
the  first ;  and  the  truest  thing  I  can  say  of  both,  that  they 
surpass  everything  of  the  kind."  It  has  received  fervent 
praise  from  Bishops  Watson,  Tomline,  Barrington,  and 
other  great  critics.  "  The  Speaker  asked  me,"  says  Wil- 
berforce,  "what  commentary  on  the  New  Testament  1 
recommended.  I  answered,  'Doddridge's  Expositor;'" 
adding,  as  we  should  have  done,  "  yet  Doddridge  is  un- 

1  This  MS.  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Angus,  of 
Regent's  Park  College. 

12 


WRITINGS. 


satisfactory,  and  we  still  want  such  a  work."1  If  less  striking 
in  its  scholarship  than  when  he  wrote  it,  this  is  partly  be- 
cause the  book  itself  has  helped  to  make  the  discoveries 
of  such  scholarship  common  and  domestic,  and  the  very 
completeness  of  the  success  achieved  by  Doddridge  has 
tended  to  efface  from  the  minds  of  the  present  generation 
the  extent  of  their  obligations  to  him.  "  It  needs  but  the 
lapse  of  a  few  years,  and  what  was  rare  in  knowledge  be- 
comes merged  in  the  current  of  educated  thought,  and  is 
accepted  as  truism."  He  was  without  the  helps  that  the 
most  inferior  men  may  now  have  from  the  progress  of 
philology  and  the  exactness  of  modern  exegesis;  but 
one  of  his  claims  to  our  regard  is  that  he  wrote  before 
all  these.  It  would  be  ungracious  to  criticise  the  first 
pioneer  in  a  continent  for  not  having  the  information 
about  it  possessed  by  the  last  explorer;  let  us  give  the 
pioneer  his  due.  We  claim  for  Doddridge  the  honour 
of  being  the  first  who  attempted  to  popularise  a  critical 
knowledge  of  the  Bible. 

His  best  known  and  most  precious  book  is  the  "  Rise 
and  Progress  of  Religion  in  the  Soul."  Yet,  here  again, 
it  would  be  easy  to  find  fault.  We  know  that  his  object 
is  to  lead  the  poor  trembler  to  Christ,  but  he  seems  to  us 
to  be  a  long  time  about  it.  He  seems  to  lay  down  too 
many  rules,  and  to  give  a  needless  impression  of  difficulty 
and  entanglement.  We  think  that  he  is  too  introspective, 
and  that  the  attention  to  our  own  consciousness  that  he 
compels  tends  in  some  degree  to  withdraw  the  soul's  eye 
from  Christ,  and  to  fix  it  on  what  is  going  on  within  itself. 
"  So  long  as  we  are  resting  on  anything  within  ourselves, 
be  it  even  a  work  of  grace,  there  remains,  at  least  to 
honest  hearts,  a  ground  for  continual  restlessness  and  dis- 
appointment. To  know  that  we  have  nothing,  are  nothing 
out  of  Christ,  is  to  know  the  truth  that  makes  us  free."  2 
The  solemn  form  of  self-dedication  which  he  recommends, 
and  which  he  himself  observed  at  set  intervals  with  great 

1  "  Diary  of  Wilbcrfoice,"  Ai  g.  29,  l8ll. 
■  1  Patience  of  Hope,"  p.  121. 


WRITINGS. 


163 


advantage  all  his  days,1  has  in  many  instances  tempted  to 
indulgence  in  a  legal  spirit,  or  led  to  sore  discouragement. 
Andrew  Fuller  says  of  Samuel  Pearce  :  "  At  the  time  of 
his  conversion,  having  read  Doddridge's  '  Rise  and  Pro- 
gress,' he  took  up  the  idea  suggested  in  that  book,  and 
resolved  formally  to  dedicate  himself  to  the  Lord.  He 
drew  up  a  covenant  accordingly,  and  to  make  it  more 
solemn  and  binding,  signed  it  with  blood  drawn  from  his 
own  body.  Afterwards,  failing  in  his  vows,  he  was 
plunged  into  great  distress.  Driven  therefore  into  a 
more  complete  examination  of  his  motives,  he  was  led  to 
see  that  he  had  been  relying  too  much  on  his  own 
strength  ;  and  carrying  the  blood-signed  covenant  to  the 
top  of  his  father's  house,  he  tore  it  in  pieces,  scattered 
it  to  the  winds,  and  resolved  henceforth  to  depend  upon 
the  peace-making  and  peace-keeping  blood  of  Christ."2 
With  all  its  drawbacks,  however,  tried  by  the  test  of  the 
good  it  has  done,  it  may  be  called  a  great  work.  The 
dear  heart  of  Doddridge  was  often  cheered  by  known  in- 
stances of  blessing  that  crowned  it.  Writing  to  Darracott, 
March  25,  1750,  we  find  him  saying:  "As  to  myself, 
I  never  had  more  cause  to  sing  of  the  goodness  of  the 
Lord.  ...  An  unusual  blessing  seems  to  have  attended 
my  writings,  both  at  home  and  abroad  ;  especially  the 
'  Family  Expositor,'  which  is  translated  into  German,  and 
the  '  Rise  and  Progress,'  of  which  four  translations  have 
been  made,  besides  a  new  English  edition  in  one  of  our 
plantations."  He  goes  on  to  tell  his  friend  of  the  interest 
taken  in  its  dispersion  by  the  Prince  and  Princess  of 
Orange,  and  of  the  tidings  which  had  reached  him  of 
"  many  conversions  "  in  consequence.  Already,  there- 
fore, he  began  to  see  an  answer  to  his  printed  prayer  at 
the  commencement  of  the  book — "  Impute  it  not,  O 
God,  as  a  culpable  ambition,  if  I  desire  that  this  work 
may  be  completed  and  propagated  far  abroad ;  that  it 

1  "Rise  and  Progress,"  chap.  xvii. 

2  Fuller's  "Life  of  Samuel  I'earce,  M.A.,"  p.  3.  A  similar  in- 
stance  appears  in  the  "  Life  of  Mary  Jane  Graham,"  p.  15.  By  Rev. 
Charles  Bridger,  M.A. 


164 


WRITINGS. 


may  reach  to  those  that  are  yet  unborn,  and  teach  them 
Thy  name  and  Thy  praise  when  the  author  has  long  dwelt 
in  the  dust.  But  if  this  petition  be  too  great  to  be  granted 
to  one  who  pretends  no  claim  but  Thy  sovereign  grace, 
give  him  to  be  in  Thy  almighty  hand  the  blessed  instru- 
ment of  converting  and  saving  one  soul ;  and  if  it  be  but 
one,  and  that  the  weakest  and  meanest,  it  shall  be  most 
thankfully  accepted  as  a  rich  recompense  for  all  the 
thought  and  labour  this  effort  may  cost."  The  answer  is 
still  in  process  ;  the  book  has  had  a  glorious  career.  No 
reader  of  Christian  biography  but  has  met  with  some 
records  of  its  effectiveness.  Wherever  our  language  is 
spoken,  in  nearly  all  the  languages  of  Europe,  and  even 
in  Eastern  languages,  it  has  been  read  with  impression ; 
by  the  power  of  God  multitudes  have  been  converted 
through  it,  and  many  of  these  have  been  the  centres  of 
many  other  conversions. 

"Passages  from  the  Life  of  Colonel  Gardiner"  is  the 
name  of  another  book  which  has  left  a  mark  in  the  world. 
The  most  "  remarkable  passage  "  was  thought  to  be  the 
story  of  the  Colonel's  conversion.  In  his  hot  youth  he 
had  fallen  into  the  awful  debauchery  and  extravagance 
which  then  prevailed  in  high  society.  During  the  month 
of  July,  17 19,  he  became  the  subject  of  a  wonderful 
change,  which  was  wrought  by  wonderful  means,  the 
story  of  which  may  be  thus  summed  up.  One  night  he 
had  a  disgraceful  assignation  with  a  married  woman,  whom 
he  was  to  attend  exactly  at  twelve.  Breaking  up  from 
some  company  at  eleven,  and  looking  through  his  books 
for  something  to  amuse  himself  for  an  hour,  he  took  out 
Watson's  "  Heaven  taken  by  Storm,''  a  book  which  his 
good  aunt  had  put  into  his  chest  without  his  knowledge. 
While  glancing  over  it,  a  great  light  suddenly  flashed  on 
the  page,  and  looking  up,  "he  solemnly  declared  to  me," 
says  Doddridge,  "  that  he,  being  broad  awake,  if  ever  in 
his  life,  apprehended  that  he  saw  clearly  and  distinctly, 
Jesus  Christ  upon  the  cross,  with  a  strong  impression 
on  his  mind  of  these  words  :  '  O  sinner,  did  I  suffer  this 
for  thee,  and  are  these  thy  returns?'    The  consequence 


WRITINGS. 


I65 


was  that  he  was  struck  with  such  confusion  that  he  sank 
down  in  his  chair,  and,  on  recovering  himself  a  little,  had 
such  views  of  the  holiness,  justice,  and  glory  of  God,  as 
threw  him  into  the  utmost  distress  and  abasement ;  and 
from  that  moment  the  whole  tenour  of  his  heart  was 
changed,  and  Divine  grace  took  possession  of  his  soul."  1 
When  the  work  on  Colonel  Gardiner  came  out,  con- 
taining the  full  statement  of  this  story,  the  truth  of  it  was 
challenged  in  two  angrily-written  pamphlets — one  pub- 
lished in  London,  the  other  in  Edinburgh.2  We  find  it 
also  disputed  in  the  "  Autobiography  of  Doctor  Alex- 
ander Carlyle,"  a  Scotch  clergyman,  who,  like  the  pamph- 
leteers, took  offence  at  the  Colonel's  remarks  about 
ministers  holding  articles  of  faith  at  variance  with  those 
to  which  they  had  subscribed.  This  gentleman,  known 
as  Jupiter  Carlyle  by  his  convivial  friends,  spoken  of  by 
Sir  Walter  Scott  as  "  a  shrewd,  clever  old  Carle,"  and 
entitled  in  his  own  ecclesiastical  circle,  "  Destroyer  of 
Superstition  in  the  Church,"  was  predisposed  to  scorn 
everything  Methodistic,  and  such  he  considered  to  be 
this  account  "The  Colonel,''  he  said,  <;  was  a  noted 
enthusiast ;  a  very  weak,  honest,  but  brave  man."  He 
had  heard  him  tell  the  story  at  least  three  or  four  times 
to  different  sets  of  people,  and  the  circumstances  were 
not  correctly  related  by  the  enthusiasts.  The  time  was 
m\dday,  not  midnigAt;  the  appointment  was  for  one 
o'clock,  not  for  twelve;  the  excessive  brightness  was  a 
fanciful  invention,  and  Mr.  Spears,  the  clergyman  who 
confirmed  the  strange  tale,  was  not  trustworthy.  To  us, 
however,  it  seems  far  more  likely  that  the  Colonel  would 

1  "  Journal,"  A-ig.  14,  1739. 

2  The  Londi  n  pamohlet  has  this  remarkable  title  :  "  Addressed 
to  the  Clergy  in  General.  A  Letter  to  the  Rev.  P.  Doddridge,  D.D., 
Concerning  his  Life  of  Colonel  Gardiner,  and  the  Account  of  the 
Family  of  the  Monroes,  in  which  the  Nature  of  Apparitions  in 
general  are  Considered,  and  many  of  the  Doctor's  mistakes  rectified. 
The  whole  interspersed  with  curious  Anecdotes,  among  which  the 
Case  of  Augmenting  the  Stipends  of  the  Ministers  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland  is  impartially  slated.  London  :  Printed  for  S.  Ilolloway 
in  the  Strand.  1749." 


i66 


WRITINGS. 


confide  all  particulars  as  to  the  sanctities  of  his  spiritual 
experience  to  his  own  pastor  than  to  any  one  else  ;  that 
pastor's  record,  written  down  at  the  time,  would,  we  think, 
be  far  more  reliable  than  the  record  set  down  sixty  years 
after — the  record  of  an  impression  left  on  the  mind  of  a 
man  like  Carlyle.  We  hold  that  the  fact  was  accordant 
with  Doddridge's  narrative,  though  without  altogether 
*  accepting  his  interpretation  of  it.  The  Colonel  was  a 
travelled  man.  While  in  Germany  he  had,  most  likely, 
seen  a  certain  old  painting  of  Christ  on  the  cross,  having 
under  it  a  Latin  inscription  roughly  translatable  into  the 
English  words  that  seemed  to  have  been  mysteriously 
spoken  out  of  another  world.  There  must  have  been  a 
dream.  In  dreams,  forgotten  sensations  are  quickened 
into  freshness.  In  many  a  dream  we  seem  to  live  a  day 
in  a  moment,  and  without  being  conscious  of  a  moment's 
sleep,  he  might  have  had  this  chapter  of  life  in  a  dream- 
flash.  No  supernatural  machinery,  beyond  that  which  is 
working  every  day,  is  wanted  to  explain  the  phenomenon. 
The  gospel  of  "  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified  "  is  the 
instrument  used  by  the  Spirit  of  God  in  conversion,  but 
this  instrument  is  not  always  applied  by  a  sermon.  How- 
ever, whatever  philosophy  may  say  as  to  the  mode  of  the 
cause  in  this  instance,  there  was  no  doubt  as  to  the 
effect.  From  this  point,  Gardiner  was  a  new  creature  in 
Christ  Jesus. 

At  first  the  book  made  many  persons  very  angry. 
They  were  so  on  account  of  the  doctrine  of  conversion 
it  set  forth,  as  well  as  because  they  thought  too  much 
was  said  about  this  particular  instance.  They  were 
angry  because  it  honoured  as  a  spiritual  hero  one  whom 
they  had  despised  as  an  enthusiast ;  and  they  were  angry 
because  Doddridge,  who  in  the  opinion  of  many  ought 
to  have  known  better,  endorsed  his  pronounced  ortho- 
doxy, as  well  as  his  blunt  censures  of  ministers  who 
taught  sentiments  at  variance  with  the  standards  to  which 
they  had  subscribed.  His  friend,  Dr.  Ayscough,  tutor  to 
the  Royal  Family,  writing  to  explain  why  he  had  not 
at  once  returned  thanks  for  a  copy  of  the  book,  says, 


WRITINGS. 


167 


"  What  could  I  have  said  if  I  had  wrote  to  you  ?  Could 
1  have  told  you  that  I  thought  it  a  good  performance, 
and  such  as  would  have  been  of  use  to  the  world  ?  That 
I  could  not,  after  the  many  reflections  that  I  had  heard 
the  world  make  upon  it.  I  could  only  have  told  you 
how  much  I  wished  you  had  never  published  it."  On 
the  other  hand,  many  fervent  spirits  were  delighted.  "  I 
say,  Doctor,"  wrote  Mr.  Pearsall,  of  Taunton,  "  let  the 
devil  rage  and  his  instruments  flout ;  your  account  of 
God's  wonderfully  appearing  to  rescue  that  soul  out  of 
the  jaws  of  the  lion  may  prove  the  wisdom  of  God  and 
the  power  of  God  to  the  salvation  of  souls."  "  I  wish," 
said  he  in  another  letter,  "  it  may  be  read  by  the  whole 
army,  and  weighed  according  to  its  deserts  by  all,  from 
the  Duke  himself  to  the  meanest  soldier  who  carries  a 
musket :  and,  my  good  friend,  blessed  be  you  of  the 
Lord,  who  have  been  the  honoured  instrument  of  hand- 
ing forth  so  glorious  a  light  in  the  view  of  thousands." 
This  good  minister  read  the  work  to  his  congregation 
two  evenings  in  a  week  until  the  whole  was  finished. 
The  knowledge  of  great  good  done  by  the  memorial  soon 
healed  the  stings  inflicted  by  adverse  criticism. 

If  the  dust  has  now  somewhat  settled  on  the  row  of  his 
other  books,  they  were  once  read  most  eagerly.  One 
work  that  did  good  service  in  its  day  was  his  "  Chris- 
tianity founded  on  Argument,"  an  answer  to  a  pamphlet  by 
Henry  Dodwell,  the  son  of  the  Non-juror,  entitled  "  Chris- 
tianity not  founded  on  Argument;  "  in  which,  under  a  show 
of  defending  the  Christian  revelation,  he  aimed  to  prove 
an  authoritative  record  of  it  to  be  impossible.  It  was 
clever  dialectic  play,  and  exhibited  a  skilful  use  of  the 
artifices  that  make  for  victory  in  a  mere  game  of  disputa- 
tion ;  but  Doddridge  was  a  match  for  his  quick,  elusive, 
well-trained  antagonist.  Now  this  old  form  of  opposition 
to  Christianity  is  being  revived,  perhaps  this  defence  of 
it  may  again  be  of  use  as  a  clear,  strong,  masterly  word 
in  season.  Robert  Hall  considered  his  "  Evidences  of 
Christianity"  as  "in  some  respects  superior  to  Paley's, 
particularly  for  young  persons  who  had  some  religious 


i68 


WRITINGS. 


knowledge."  He  also  urgently  recommended  his  "  Ser- 
mons to  Young  People,"  and  of  one  sermon  in  the  series, 
"  Christ  Found  in  the  Soul  the  Only  and  Eternal  Hope 
of  Glory,"  that  great  preacher  entertained  so  high  an 
opinion,  that  one  Sunday  afternoon  at  Cambridge,  instead 
of  preaching  a  sermon  of  his  own,  he  actually  delivered 
this  one  from  memory.  His  course  of  sermons  on  "  The 
Education  of  Children,"  that  on  "The  Power  and  Grace  of 
Christ,"  and  that  on  "  Regeneration,"  were  severally  distin- 
guished for  their  evangelical  instructiveness,  and  for  their 
adaptation  to  the  popular  mind  of  the  age.  John  Foster, 
whose  intellectual  rank  is  so  vastly  higher  than  that  of 
Doddridge,  but  whose  name  will  ever  live  along  with  his 
on  account  of  his  fine  introduction  to  the  "  Rise  and 
Progress,"  had  Doddridge's  sermons  read  to  him  in  his 
last  illness.  One  of  the  last  sermons  read  to  him  was  the 
solemn  one  on  the  "  Incapacity  of  an  Unregenerate  Soul 
for  Relishing  the  Enjoyments  of  the  Heavenly  World.'' 
He  was  so  much  struck  with  it  that  he  desired  his 
daughters  to  promise  him  that  they  would  read  it  every 
month,  saying  he  thought  no  one  could  read  it  often  with- 
out a  salutary  effect.1  His  revision  of  "  Leighton  on  the 
First  of  Peter,"  which  up  to  that  time  had  been  obscured 
by  "  the  most  faulty  printing  ever  known,"  was  a  good 
service  to  the  Church  ;  and  so  was  his  translation  of  the 
good  Archbishop's  "  Prelectiones  Theologicre,"  and  of  his 
"  Ethico-critical  Meditations  "  on  certain  Psalms. 

His  hymns,  364  in  number,  were  edited,  after  his 
death,  by  faithful  Job  Orton.  Others  have  been  published 
by  Mr.  Humphreys,  under  the  title  "  Doddridge's  Hymn- 
book,"  and  many  are  still  in  manuscript.  These  can 
hardly  be  called  "works,"  as  they  were  all  flung  off  with 
happy  facility,  each  one  after  he  had  finished  the  prepar- 
ation of  his  sermon,  while  his  mind  was  still  brimming 
and  kindling  with  the  thought.  Each  hymn,  therefore, 
preserves  the  leading  ideas  of  some  forgotten  sermon. 
James  Hamilton,  after  calling  attention  to  this,  beauti- 


«  Ryland's  "Life  of  Foster,"  vol.  i.  pp.  355,  358. 


WRITINGS. 


169 


fully  says,  "  If  amber  is  the  gum  of  fossil  trees,  fetched 
up  and  floated  off  by  the  ocean,  hymns  like  these  are 
spiritual  amber.  Most  of  the  sermons  to  which  they 
originally  pertained  have  disappeared  for  ever;  but,  at 
once  beautiful  and  buoyant,  these  familiar  strains'  are 
destined  to  carry  the  devout  emotions  of  Doddridge  to 
every  shore  where  his  Master  is  loved,  and  where  his 
mother  tongue  is  spoken."1 

On  about  twenty  of  these  hymns,  most  especially,  the 
Church  catholic  has  so  set  the  seal  of  her  approval,  that 
they  are  found  wherever  Englishmen  live;  and  tliere  is 
probably  not  a  hymn-book  without  them.  His  Christmas 
hymn,  and  the  hymn  beginning  with  the  words,  "  My 
Cod,  and  is  Thy  table  spread,"  appeared  for  many  years 
on  the  last  page  of  the  Prayer-book,  and  are  associated 
with  the  "  fair  linen  cloth  "  and  the  chancel  table.  "  O 
happy  day  that  fix'd  my  choice,"  said  by  Montgomery  to 
be  the  grandest  hymn  in  the  language,  has  been  used,  at 
Prince  Albert's  suggestion,  in  the  confirmation  services  of 
the  Royal  Family,  and  is  also  the  confirmation  hymn  of 
the  American  Episcopal  Church.  Our  favourite  hymn, 
"O  Cod  of  Bethel,  by  whose  hand,"  was  long  ascribed  to 
Logan,  who  included  it  in  his  own  "  Poems,"  published 
in  1 781;  but  it  bears  date  in  Doddridge's  manuscript, 
Jan.  16,  1736-7,  several  years  before  Logan  was  born. 
This  hymn,  like  many  of  the  others,  may  be  said  to  have 
had  a  most  interesting  biography,  which  there  is  now  no 
time  to  tell ;  but  we  must  not  omit  to  note  the  new  charm 
given  to  our  memory  of  it,  by  its  use  in  the  services 
when  certain  great  Englishmen  were  buried  in  West- 
minster Abbey.  It  was  sung  there  at  Livingstone's 
funeral  ;  and  we  feel  an  electric  shiver  as  we  recollect  how, 
on  July  5,  1879,  when  the  mortal  remains  of  Lord  Law- 
rence, the  great  Indian  administrator,  were  taken  to  their 
tomb  there — when  the  procession  stopped,  and  when 
the  coffin,  covered  with  sweet-scented  flowers  and  the 
baron's  coronet,  was  placed  on  a  square  space  of  sable 


*  "Our  Christian  Classics,"  vol.  iii.  p.  374. 


170 


WRITINGS. 


cloth  covering  the  walls  of  the  grave — Doddridge's  hymn, 
set  to  old  cathedral  music,  was  beautifully  chanted,  and 
how,  while  this  was  sounding,  the  body  was  slowly,  slowly 
lowered,  disappearing  just  at  the  point  where  the  hymn 
finished  with  the  words — 

"  O  spread  Thy  covering  wings  around, 
Till  all  our  wanderings  cease  ; 
And  at  our  Father's  loved  abode 
Our  souls  arrive  in  peace." 

Some  reviewers  have  questioned  the  claims  of  these 
hymns  to  be  called  poetry.  A  man  may  be  a  good 
hymnist  without  being,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word, 
a  good  poet.  Poet  or  not,  we  think  that  an  apostle 
would  have  included  his  verses  in  the  "  Psalms,  hymns, 
and  spiritual  songs  "  which  make  "  melody  in  the  heart 
unto  the  Lord."  If  any  Christian  pilgrim,  weak  and 
wounded,  unable  to  keep  step  with  the  caravan,  is  left 
behind  on  the  lonely  sands,  he  will  be  surprised,  if  he 
will  but  try  these  hymns,  to  find  how  suited  they  are  to 
his  extremity ;  how  they  will  help  to  make  "the  solitary 
place  glad  ;  "  and  how  he  will  have  all  the  poetry  he  wants 
as  his  soul  learns  to  sing  with  the  soul  of  Doddridge — 

"  O  Love  beyond  that  stretch  of  thought  ! 
What  matchless  wonders  it  hath  wrought  I 
My  faith,  while  she  the  grace  declares, 
Trembles  beneath  the  load  she  bears." 


XIV. 


THE  INNER  LIFE  SPRINGING:  THE  OUTER  LIFE 
SPENT. 

"  As  candles  light  do  give 
Vntill  they  be  consumed 
Doing  good,  so  should  men  liue 
Vntill  their  daies  be  ended. 
The  truth  be  bold  to  speake, 
Not  fearing  any  face  ; 
The  Lord  thy  part  will  take, 
And  strength  thee  with  His  grace. 
Then  needst  thou  not  to  feare 
Death,  come  he  late  or  early  : 
In  truth  to  God  draw  neare, 
And  He  will  loue  thee  dearly." 

Anthony  Fletcher,  1595. 

DODDRIDGE'S  vestry  is  one  of  our  shrines.  The 
old  arm-chair,  rush-seated  ;  the  dark,  napped  old 
table,  tottering  on  legs  that  look  like  upright  rows  of 
balls  ;  the  little  corner  fire-place,  and  the  deep,  latticed 
windows,  are  all  as  he  left  them.  There  is  not  much  to 
look  at  Yet  when  we  stand  alone  there,  our  souls  are 
hushed  within  us,  and  we  are  more  impressed  with  a 
sense  of  being  on  consecrated  ground  than  we  should  be 
on  the  pavement  of  St.  Peter's ;  for  this,  more  especially 
during  his  later  years,  was  to  him  a  "  Holy  of  holies,"  and 
here  he  often  found  that  heaven  touched  earth.  Here 
he  agonised  in  prayer,  not  for  himself  only,  but  for  his 
people,  his  pupils,  and  his  children  by  name;  here  he 
mourned  for  sin ;  here  the  faith  that  seemed  to  be  dead 


172  THE  INNER  LIFE  SPRINGING: 


became  alive  again,  and  the  lost  was  found ;  and  here  he 
had  "joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory."  Although,  as 
Austin  saith,  "  Every  saint  is  God's  temple,  and  he  that 
carrieth  his  temple  about  with  him  may  go  to  prayer  when- 
ever he  pleaseth  ;"  while  we  dwell  in  time  and  on  earth,  the 
life  of  prayer  needs  many  helps.  It  needs  help  from  system, 
help  from  solitude,  and  sometimes  help  from  the  sound 
of  the  voice.  Like  ancient  saints  who  prayed  in  their 
oratories,  Doddridge  hastened  to  this  solitude  within  a 
solitude,  where  he  could  pour  out  his  heart,  sure  that 
there  could  be  no  auditors  of  his  awful  privacy.  -  Apart 
from  this  consideration,  the  central  stillness  of  the  place 
itself  was  a  help  to  a  public  man  like  him,  and  in  the  old 
poetic  sense  of  the  words,  it  was  often  a  place  of  escape 
from  "the  windy  storm  and  tempest."  During  the 
month  of  April,  1743,  the  "Ram"  Inn,  just  over  the 
way,  was  one  of  the  houses  of  the  Knightley  party,  and 
scenes  like  those  now  alive  in  Hogarth's  "  Election " 
cartoons,  were  witnessed  there  every  day.  "  I  am  in- 
sulted abundantly  by  the  mob,"  said  he,  "  with  most 
outrageous  clamours ;  .  .  .  probably,  if  they  durst,  they 
would  be  glad  to  trample  me  under  their  feet."  On  the 
1 6th,  when  the  shouts  "  No  Hanbury  !  no  Doddridge  !" 
were  loud  in  the  street,  and  the  storm  was  at  the  worst,  he 
was  all  the  while  writing  to  Miss  Saunders,  a  young  lady 
who  was  one  of  his  wards,  on  the  best  methods  of  pre- 
paration for  the  Lord's  Supper ;  but  just  as  he  had  got  as 
far  as  a  sentence  about  "  the  peace  and  delight  "  spring- 
ing from  "a  humble,  diligent,  and  holy  walk  with  God," 
the  disturbance  became  intolerable,  and  he  wrote,  "  The 
very  disagreeable  circumstances  in  which  I  have  been 
obliged  to  write,  amidst  almost  continual  interruptions, 
one  of  them  from  a  kind  of  battle  under  my  study 
window,  must  be  my  apology  for  the  confusion  and' 
inaccuracy  which  you  may  see  in  almost  every  line  and 
word."  At  such  times,  as  well  as  when  other  calls  were 
distracting,  we  can  understand  what  significance  there 
was  in  his  frequent  words,  "  my  asylum,  the  vestry." 
The  first  Monday  in  every  month  was  here  spent  as  a 


THE  OUTER  LIFE  SPENT. 


173 


fast  day.  His  views  on  the  use  of  fasting  appear  to  have 
been  those  which  are  quaintly  condensed  by  an  old 
divine :  "  My  flesh  is  my  beast.  Christ  is  the  way  I  am 
to  go.  If  the  beast  be  too  wanton,  shall  I  not  withdraw 
some  of  the  provender?  If  I  cannot  govern  him,  shall  I 
not  tame  him?"1  While  fasting,  he  prayed  about  his 
plans  and  his  people,  in  review  of  the  past  month  and 
in  prospect  of  the  coming  one. 

Here  also,  at  this  very  table,  he  wrote  many  of  his 
solemn,  but  artless  diaries.  Some  diaries  make  us  think 
that  the  poor  souls  revealed  in  them  are  proud  of  their 
graces  ;  are  even  proud  to  stand  before  the  public  with 
the  white  sheet  of  penitence  falling  over  them  in  folds  of 
ornamental  drapery.  We  protest  against  such  emblazon- 
ments, and  think  that  no  one,  even  in  his  own  case,  has 
a  right  to  publish  the  secrets  of  the  confessional ;  but 
these  diaries  were  not  published  by  the  writer.  He  never 
dreamt  of  such  publicity.  He  wrote  because  it  was  his 
nature  to  write.  He  seemed  always  to  think,  feel,  pray, 
and  search  the  secrets  of  his  heart,  pen  in  hand  ;  so  that 
he  was  always  putting  himself  on  paper,  and  allowing 
his  inner  life  to  register  itself  without  being  quite  con- 
scious of  the  process.  Probably  it  was  a  help  to  hirn, 
just  as  praying  aloud  was  a  help  to  him,  and  spirituality 
was  intensified  by  definition. 

It  was  a  saying  of  the  late  Bishop  Hamilton  of  Salis- 
bury, that  "no  man  was  likely  to  do  much  good  in  prayer 
who  did  not  begin  by  looking  at  it  in  the  light  of  a  work, 
to  be  prepared  for  and  persevered  in  with  all  the  earnest- 
ness which  we  bring  to  bear  on  subjects  which  are  in  our 
opinion  at  once  most  interesting  and  most  necessary."2 
Doddridge  looked  at  it  in  this  light ;  and  the  conse- 
quence was  what  Dr.  Chalmers  has  called  the  intense 
business-like  spirit  of  his  prayers.  In  fact,  prayer  was  to 
him  a  business  which  he  was  bent  on  understanding  well, 
and  carrying  out  thoroughly.    In  order  to  this  he  was  a 

1  Dr.  Donne. 

2  Canon  Liddon's  "  Elements  of  Religion,"  p.  172. 


174  THE  INNER  LIFE  SPRINGING  : 


man  of  rules.  Besides  the  rules  already  noticed  for 
seasons  in  the  vestry,  he  always  had  on  his  desk,  ready 
for  reference,  a  paper  of  rules  for  the  devotional  life  of 
the  week.  Each  day  had  rules  for  its  own  specific 
errands  to  the  throne  of  grace  ;  questions  for  self-exami- 
nation, topics  for  meditation,  and  resolves  for  conduct. 
Lists  of  persons  to  be  prayed  for  according  to  their 
specialised  characters  and  wants  were  all  under  rule. 
Let  system  have  only  its  right  use,  and  let  it  never  be 
forgotten  that  the  rules  are  for  the  man,  not  the  man  for 
the  rules,  then  such  a  habit  will  only  help  the  springing 
of  the  inner  life  ;  it  certainly  did  so  in  the  case  of  Dr. 
Doddridge,  and  private  exercises  of  devotion,  carried  on 
in  modes  most  natural  to  himself,  made  his  latest  years 
years  of  vehement  heavenliness. 

"  Slight  those  who  say  amidst  their  sickly  healths, 
Thou  livest  by  rule.    What  doth  not  so  but  man? 
Houses  are  built  by  rule,  and  commonwealths  ; 
Entice  the  trusty  sun,  if  that  you  can, 

From  his  ecliptic  line;  beckon  the  sky. 

Who  lives  by  rule,  then,  keeps  good  company," 

Poor  man  !  his  body  was  not  so  prosperous  as  his  soul. 
The  outer  man  was  getting  spent  in  rapid  energy  of 
service.  The  death  of  Dr.  Watts  in  1748,  left  him  the 
most  conspicuous  minister  among  the  churches  of  his 
own  order,  and  he  was  more  than  ever  consulted  on 
matters  needing  leadership.  He  became  increasingly  a 
miser  of  moments.  In  a  note  written  about  this  date,  we 
find  that  he  kept  up  his  old  practice  of  rising  at  five  in 
the  morning.1  Every  month  madehini  a  more  influential 
worker.  The  reward  of  work  is  work.  For  the  wear  and 
tear  of  a  life  like  his,  an  iron  man  was  wanted,  and  he 
never  was  that.  Sir  Godfrey  Kneller  and  his  friend  Pope 
were  once  valued  by  a  slave-trading  gentleman  as  worth 
about  ten  guineas  the  pair.  Once,  Doddridge  might 
have  fetched  about  the  same,  but  he  had  deteriorated. 

*  See  "Family  Expositor"  on  Romans  xiii.  13,  note  K. 


THE  OUTER  LIFE  SPENT.  1 75 


He  was  getting  worn  out  as  much  by  worry  as  by  work.  In 
a  letter  to  John  Ryland,  M.A.,  of  Warwick,  May  17,  1747, 
he  said  :  "  I  have  been  much  afflicted  by  the  breach  made 
in  our  church  by  the  Moravians,  who  have  got  from  us  a 
little  congregation ;  the  affliction  has  been  increased  by 
the  death  of  some  very  promising  and  hopeful  persons, 
especially  of  one  who  died  last  night,  and  whose  age, 
circumstances,  and  character  concurred  to  give  us  the 
greatest  hopes  of  usefulness  from  him  ;  so  that  it  is  one  of 
the  greatest  blows  of  that  kind  I  have  received  since  I 
came  hither.  My  spirits  are  much  grieved  and  oppressed. 
Pray  that  I  may  be  enabled  to  wait  on  the  Lord  with 
quiet  submission  and  humble  hope."  1 

His  causes  of  anxiety  are  more  fully  explained  in  the 
following  passages  written  at  about  the  same  time  to  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Darracott : 

"God  is  pleased  to  exercise  me  of  late  with  much 
greater  discouragements  as  to  my  ministry  than  have 
attended  me  in  the  whole  course  of  it.  Considerable 
numbers  have  been  removed  by  death  and  other  pro- 
vidences, the  places  of  which  have  not  been  filled  up  by 
those  who  have  succeeded.  God  has  suffered  sin  to 
break  in  upon  us,  and  we  have  been  obliged  within  these 
ten  years  to  separate  at  least  ten  persons  from  our  com- 
munion as  scandalous ;  and,  what  discourages  me  most  of 
all,  there  are  several  who  have  withdrawn  from  the  table 
of  the  Lord  and  other  ordinances,  concerning  whom  I 
had  good  hope  that  they  were  real  Christians.  Particularly 
last  sacrament  day,  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ager  quitted  us, 
as  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Maud  had  done  a  month  before.  .  .  . 
In  the  evening  they  go  to  hear  a  Moravian  tailor,  who 
lives  in  the  town,  and  who  is  come  hither  to  gather,  if 
possible,  a  Moravian  Society.  Their  pernicious  error  is 
that  external  worship  signifies  little  ;  and  they  have  hardly 
any  ordinance  among  them  but  singing,  unless  concerts 
for  music,  which  they  get  when  they  can,  may  be  called 


•  "  Rylandiana,"  p.  140. 


176  THE  INNER  LIFE  SPRINGING  : 


ordinances.  Strongly  do  I  suspect  the  secret  working  of 
Popery  among  them ;  as  I  know  they  have  prostrate 
adoration  in  their  communion,  and  am  credibly  informed 
that  not  only  do  they  pay  great  regard  to  crucifixes,  but 
that  in  one  of  their  hymn-books  there  is  a  song  to  the 
Virgin  Mary.  They  also  certainly  teach  the  power 
of  the  Church  to  forgive  sins,  and  they  have  such 
notions  of  the  infallibility  of  the  Church,  which  they 
teach  even  to  the  children,  under  the  phrase  of  following 
their  Mother  where  she  leads  them,  that  I  think  no 
Papist  could  speak  upon  this  head  in  stronger  terms ; 
but  all  this  mischief  is  done  in  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
and  under  pretence  of  exalting  the  Lamb.  .  .  .  They 
cry  down  all  preaching  of  inward  work  of  repentance  and 
holiness,  as  if  it  were  the  very  subversion  of  the  gospel 
of  Christ.  Could  I  perceive  that  while  these  things 
happen  one  way  there  were  any  considerable  increase  of 
the  Church,  or  any  support  of  the  power  of  the 
gospel  among  others,  I  should  be  the  more  comforted 
to  bear  the  affliction  ;  but  I  have  the  grief  to  tell 
you  that  additions  to  the  Church  have  these  last  two 
years  been  very  few ;  no  more  than  thirty  have  been 
added  since  April  was  twelvemonth  (when  we  took 
in  six  together),  and  I  believe  we  have  lost  since  that 
time  almost  double  the  number  of  communicants,  sup- 
posing these  seceders  to  be  lost,  as  I  am  much  afraid 
they  are.  Nor  can  I  find  that  many  are  awakened 
by  the  Word  ;  nor  can  I  prevail  with  many  excellent 
Christians  who  have  long  been  standing  out  to  come 
and  join  themselves  to  the  Church.  How  these 
things  grieve  and  wound  me,  I  leave  you  to  judge  ;  but  I 
communicate  them  to  you,  that  you  may  pity  me  and 
pray  for  me.  I  have  indeed  one  token  for  good,  which 
is  that  these  things  have  really  quickened  my  spirit  of  late 
to  cry  to  God  with  more  earnestness  than  I  have  com- 
monly done  for  the  more  evident  success  of  my  ministry  ; 
but  I  cannot  yet  see  that  my  prayers  have  been  answered, 
and  some  of  these  discouraging  circumstances,  especially 
with  regard  to  the  Moravians,  have  happened  even  since 


THE  OUTER  LIFE  SPENT. 


177 


these  cries  have  been  most  fervent.  I  forgot  to  tell  you 
in  a  more  proper  place  that  Mr.  Evans,  once  a  clergy- 
man, has  also  left  us,  not  for  any  other  ordinances  what- 
ever, but  to  continue  at  home  or  to  walk  in  the  fields, 
and  reading  the  Bible  under  a  pretension  that  human 
explications  do  but  pervert  and  corrupt  the  Word  of  God, 
and  that  it  is  to  be  taken  in  its  own  simplicity.  Thus 
I  see  souls  ensnared  around  me  on  every  hand, 
and  my  attempts  to  recover  them  do  really  signify 
nothing.  All  these  enthusiasts  are  as  confident  as  if 
immediately  inspired,  and  only  repay  with  pity,  if  not 
with  scorn,  all  attempts  to  bring  them  to  sounder  senti- 
ment. And  what  is  most  deplorable  of  all,  is,  that  many 
who  continue  in  their  attendance  continue  unconverted 
and  unimpressed  under  the  most  awakening  preaching. 

"  I  have  seriously  examined  myself  as  to  the  cause  of 
these  things,  and  have  a  testimony  in  my  conscience  that 
I  never  more  sincerely  sought  the  glory  of  God,  and  I 
think  I  never  preached  or  wrote  with  more  that  seemed 
in  my  own  soul  the  token  of  His  presence.  .  .  .  Give  me, 
my  dear  brethren,  your  prayers ;  send  me  also  your 
advices.  .  .  .  Bring  my  case  before  your  praying  societies  ; 
tell  them  that  I  labour  in  vain,  and  spend  my  strength 
for  nought ;  and  that  the  work  of  the  Lord  is  not  estab- 
lished, but  my  eyes  do  almost  fail,  while  I  wait  for 
God's  salvation.  Perhaps  I  am  leaving  the  world,  and 
God  is  weaning  me  from  it.  I  truly  sometimes  think 
sincerely  whether  God  is  not  pointing  out  to  me  some 
different  scene  of  labour  ;  and  yet  I  am  very  unwilling  to 
conclude  it,  especially  as  I  am  dearer  than  ever,  rather 
than  less  so,  to  the  main  body  of  my  people  ;  and  the  in- 
fluence which  I  plainly  see  I  have  among  my  brethren 
here,  and  the  nourishing  state  of  the  interest  of  religion 
all  around  me,  for  almost  all  the  congregations  are  in  an 
advancing  state,  is  a  further  encouragement  to  continue. 
O  may  I  know  the  mind  of  God  !  O  may  I  be  recon- 
ciled to  all  His  will,  and  go  on  strenuously  and  faithfully 
preaching  the  gospel,  though  I  should  have  no  more 
success  in  my  ministry  than  Jeremiah  or  than  Noah  had 


'3 


178  THE  INNER  LIFE  SPRINGING  : 


in  theirs  !  and  O  !  what  a  rebuke  to  think  that  the  success 
of  such  eminent  men  was  no  greater,  and  that  I  am  so 
ready  to  be  disquieted  when  God  is  blessing  almost  all 
the  other  works  of  my  hands  !  His  will  be  done.  I 
desire  to  leave  all  with  Him.  But  I  do  long  more  and 
more  after  the  salvation  of  souls,  and  the  edification  of 
the  Church  ;  and  the  Lord  pardon  His  servant  in  this 
matter,  if  these  longings  be  sometimes  impatient.  Let 
me  only  add  one  word.  I  have  sometimes  had  a  thought 
that  God  suffers  things  to  decline,  that  the  revival  of 
religion,  when  He  returns  in  mercy,  may  be  so  much  the 
more  remarkable  ;  and  perhaps,  too,  that  some  of  my 
brethren  who  in  their  great  humility  are  ready  to  think 
me  much  their  superior — though,  alas  !  I  am  far  from 
being  so  —  may  either  be  more  thankful  if  God  do 
succeed  them,  or  more  resigned  if  He  do  not.  On  the 
whole,  my  dear  friends,  I  desire  to  refer  all  to  the  Lord, 
and  to  acquiesce  in  His  will.  I  am  sensible  I  am  not 
better  than  my  fathers,  and  in  many  respects  much  inferior 
to  a  multitude  of  them  ;  and  if  God  says  He  docs  not 
delight  in  me,  for  the  purposes  of  building  up  His  Church 
here  or  elsewhere,  I  desire  to  say, '  Here  am  I,  let  Him  do 
with  me  what  seemeth  good  in  His  sight.'  But  as  I  was 
determined  with  all  humble  submission  to  His  will  to 
renew  my  fervent  intercession  at  the  throne  of  grace 
more  frequently  for  a  blessing  on  my  ministry,  I  was 
desirous  to  engage  your  communion  on  these  addresses." 

Thoughts  like  these  wear  the  body  out,  and  make  the 
soul  like  a  sword  of  fire,  working  through  its  sheath. 

One  of  the  hymns  alluded  to  in  the  letter  contained 
the  following  stanza,  intended  to  be  a  description  of  the 
Church : 

"The  daughters  reverence  do, 
Chris tess,  and  praise  thee  too 
Thou  happy  Kyria,  daughter  of  Abijah, 
Ve— Ruach  Elohah,  sister  of  Jehovah, 
Manness  of  the  man  Teshuah, 
Out  of  the  Pleura  hosannah." 


THE  OUTER  LIFE  SPENT. 


179 


This  verse  is  not  at  all  more  remarkable  than  many  that 
might  be  quoted,  but  it  happens  to  come  first,  and  is 
given  as  a  fair  specimen  of  what  was  thought  to  be  ideal 
hymnology  by  these  professedly  advanced  Christian 
thinkers,  and  as  affording  at  the  same  time  a  proof  of  their 
extravagant  exaltation  of  the  Church.  They  also  allowed 
Count  Zinzendorf's  claim  to  be  absolute  ruler  in  matters 
ecclesiastical,  under  the  title  of  "  Papa,"  which  was  only 
an  affectionate  form  of  the  word  "Pope;"  therefore,  all 
things  considered,  Doddridge  was  not  morbid  in  con- 
sidering that  their  system  looked  like  a  mode  of  Popery, 
and  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  that  these  strange 
doctrines,  now  avowed  by  his  old  friend,  gave  him  a 
shock  of  surprise  and  revulsion.  The  Methodists,  repre- 
sented by  Whitefield  and  Wesley,  had  already  felt  the 
same.  Sir  John  Thorold  and  other  devout  members  of 
the  Establishment,  who,  regarding  the  Unitas  Fratrum 
as  the  most  ancient,  yet  most  spiritual  of  Episcopal 
Churches,  had  for  some  years  communed  with  it,  now 
felt  forced  to  disown  it,  and  had  returned  to  communion 
with  the  Church  of  England.  We  must  be  allowed  to 
say  in  passing,  that  these  remarks  have  reference  to  the 
eccentricities  of  one  single  individual,  and  to  the  evils 
resulting  from  them.  Not  the  very  faintest  reflection  is 
cast  on  our  brethren  of  the  Moravian  Church.  AVe  would 
humbly  tread  in  the  steps  of  their  heroic  missionaries, 
would  study  the  models  of  holy  love  that  so  enrich  their 
story,  and  feel  that  when  we  think  of  Cambold,  Latrobe, 
and  James  Montgomery,  their  very  names  ought  to  be 
means  of  grace. 

One  symptom  of  the  marasmus  into  which  the  church 
at  Northampton  had  sunk  w  as  decrease  of  numbers.  He 
alluded  to  this  in  the  letter  only  in  general  terms ;  but  we 
learn  from  certain  memoranda  found  elsewhere,  that  there 
had  been  a  falling  off  in  this  respect  since  the  year  1745, 
and  his  last  statement  on  the  subject  is  :  "  In  looking  over 
the  account  for  the  year  1749,  1  find  that  twenty-two  had 
been  admitted,  and  twenty-two  removed  by  death  or  other- 
wise, so  that  we  were  just  as  at  the  beginning  of  the  year — 


l8o  THE  INNER  LIFE  SPRINGING  : 


in  all,  239." 1  This  is  a  study  for  those  who  teach  us  that 
the  Divine  credentials  of  ministers  must  be  looked  for  in 
the  statistics  of  their  visible  success.  The  worth  of  no 
work  is  known  till  it  is  done,  and  his  work,  even  at  North- 
ampton, will  not  be  done  till  the  trumpet  sounds. 

After  gathering  from  all  quarters  the  breviates  for  the 
year  1750,  we  find  that,  besides  multifarious  correspon- 
dence, besides  expository  and  devotional  lectures,  and 
besides  ordinary  work  for  church  and  college,  he  preached 
one  hundred  and  forty  five  times.  In  January,  he  published 
"  Christian  Charity  and  Unanimity  Stated,"  a  sermon 
preached  at  a  meeting  of  ministers  at  Creaton.  Further 
important  work  arose  out  of  the  alarm  caused  by  an  earth- 
quake in  February.  The  fabled  rock  of  Britannia  heaved 
from  its  basis :  three  times,  all  England  was  tilted  up  two 
or  three  inches  from  end  to  end,  and  the  water  in  every 
river  dashed  over  the  bank  on  one  side,  like  water  spilt 
from  a  cup  when  shaken.  There  was  a  horrible  sense 
of  insecurity,  and  the  roads  leading  out  of  London  were 
crowded  with  the  carriages  of  fugitives,  who  hastened  into 
the  open  country  out  of  danger  from  falling  houses.  Dod- 
dridge published  in  "Philosophical  Transactions"  notes 
of  the  phenomena  as  observed  by  himself;2  and  on 
August  20th  delivered  a  burning  sermon  at  Salters'  Hall  on 
the  subject,  taking  for  his  text,  "  And  thou,  Capernaum, 
which  art  exalted  unto  heaven,  shalt  be  brought  down  to 
hell."  One  immediate  effect  of  this  was  that  it  roused 
Mr.  Forfitt,  a  wealthy  merchant  who  was  present,  to  go 
at  once  and  found  the*  "  BoOk  Society  for  Promoting 
Religious  Knowledge,  among  the  Poor."  He  sent  the 
preacher  the  first  donation  of  Bibles  and  catechisms,  and 
later  on  said  to  him  in  writing,  "  I  do  not  know,  dear  sir, 
whether  justice  does  not  oblige  me  to  inform  you  that,  if 
the  zvorld  receives  any  advantage  from  this  design,  I  think, 
under  God,  it  is  indebted  to  Dr.  Doddridge ;  for  as  the 
sacred  fervour  which  animated  your  addresses  from  the 
pulpit  when  last  in  town,  kindled  a  spark  of  the  same 
1  Castle  Hill  Church  Book. 

f  "  Philosophical  Transactions,"  vol.  xlvi.  p.  712. 


THE  OUTER  LIFE  SPENT.  l8l 

benevolence  to  souls  in  the  breast  of  one  who  could  no 
longer  retain  his  desire  of  usefulness  within  the  compass  of 
his  own  small  abilities,  without  exciting  others  to  the  same 
views."  This  society  distributed  Bibles  and  Tracts  for 
nearly  fifty  years  before  our  more  illustrious  Bible  and 
Tract  Societies  began  their  career  ;  and  there  can  be  no 
reasonable  doubt  that  it  helped  to  suggest  and  quicken 
into  existence  these  and  other  institutions  with  the  same 
object  both  in  England  and  America.1  Its  own  story, 
told  in  a  hundred  and  thirty  annual  reports,  is  a  right 
noble  one  ;  and  it  is  a  rousing  thought  that  all  the  vast 
uselulness,  direct  and  indirect,  growing  out  of  it,  sprang 
from  seed  sown  by  Doddridge. 

In  the  course  of  the  year  he  prepared  for  the  press  a 
letter  to  Count  Zinzendorf.  He  also  laboured  to  further 
the  endeavours  of  the  Protestants  to  found  a  college  at 
Breslau,  "  which  was  to  be  after  the  German  plan,  and 
to  comprehend  all  sorts  of  schools,"  but  which  chiefly 
had  reference  to  the  education  of  ministers.  This,  he 
thought,  "  would  have  a  wonderful  influence  on  the  state 
of  religion  in  Silesia."  The  project  had  been  encouraged 
by  help  from  Holland,  as  well  as  from  several  English 
congregations.  He  tried  to  obtain  "a  brief"  in  aid  of  it 
from  Lambeth ;  but  the  Archbishop,  advised  by  the 
Episcopal  bench,  returned  a  negative  to  the  application. 2 
This  year  he  also  worked  hard,  both  by  speech  and  by 
writing,  in  endeavours  to  check  the  ravages  of  small-pox, 
by  recommending  the  practice  of  inoculation.  We  have 
nearly  forgotten  this  ancient  terror.  It  used  to  be  always 
hovering  near.  You  could  go  into  few  companies  with- 
out seeing  faces  scarred  by  it  Without  taking  time  to 
search,  we  happen  to  light  on  twelve  of  Doddridge's 
letters  in  collections  before  us,  each  of  which  contains 
harrowing  reference  to  it.  The  remedy  introduced  from 
Turkey  in  1722  was  the  best  then  known,  but  the  popular 
dislike  to  it,  against  which  Doddridge  and  others  had  to 
work,  was  almost  invincible.    "  It  was  a  new  thing — it 

«  Sermon  by  John  Rippon,  D.D.,  1802. 

•  Stedinan's  "  Letters  to  and  from  Doddridge,"  p.  305. 


182 


THE  INNER  LIFE  SPRINGING  : 


came  from  foreigners — needless  fuss  was  made  about  the 
small-pox — people  did  not  die  of  that  so  much  as  of  the 
doctors."  This  seems  to  have  been  Dr.  Warburton's 
opinion,  who  on  February  2,  1741,  characteristically 
wrote  :  "  We  have  it  now,  and  have  had  it  some  time 
in  the  village  from  whence  I  write.  .  .  .  About  forty 
have  had  the  distemper,  and  all  recovered  but  two,  who, 
without  my  knowledge,  sent  for  an  apothecary,  who  soon 
did  their  business !  But  I  have  taken  care  for  the  future 
that  those  who  die  of  it  shall  die  a  natural  death.  The 
very  same  case  happened  here  three  years  ago.  The 
same  number  then  had  it,  and  but  two  died,  and  of  the 
same  distemper — the  apothecary  !  "  When  Christians 
have  made  up  their  minds  against  a  reform,  they  generally 
extract  a  reason  for  their  decision  out  of  Scripture.  It 
was  so  in  this  case.  Inoculation  was  denounced  as 
tempting  Providence  by  superinducing  disease,  endeavour- 
ing to  counteract  a  Divine  visitation,  and  imitating  the 
action  of  the  devil,  who  caused  boils  to  break  out  on  the 
body  of  Job.  In  town  and  country,  in  public  and  in 
conversation,  he  tried  to  meet  the  religious  difficulty, 
and  also  published  the  following  tractate  :  "  The  Case  of 
receiving  the  Small-pox  by  Inoculation,  Impartially  con- 
sidered, and  especially  in  a  Religious  View.  Written  in 
the  year  mdccxxv.  By  the  late  Reverend  Mr.  David 
Some;  and  now  published  from  the  original  Manuscript 
by  P.  Doddridge,  D. D.  'I  will  ask  you  one  thing,  Is  it 
lawful  .  .  .  to  save  life  or  to  destroy  it  ? '  1750." 

In  the  course  of  this  year  he  made  fresh  attempts  to 
serve  the  cause  of  Christian  missions.  It  will  be  re- 
membered that  in  a  conference  of  ministers  in  1741, 
following  his  memorable  sermon  on  "The  Evil  and 
Danger  of  Neglecting  Souls,"  he  submitted  a  plan  for  the 
formation  of  missionary  auxiliaries,  and  founded  an  earnest 
appeal  upon  it.  We  have  no  report  of  results  from  this 
appeal.  Five  years  after,  Thomas  Harmer  thus  wrote  to 
ask  what  was  being  done : 

"  Be  so  kind  as  to  let  me  know  what  success  you  have 


THE  OUTER  LIFE  SPENT.  183 


met  with  at  Northampton  in  your  plan,  and  what  methods 
you  have  taken  to  apply  the  contributions  of  your  friends 
for  that  purpose,  so  as  to  answer  the  design  most 
effectually.  /  am  appreltcnsive  of  very  great  difficulties  in 
the  doing  of  any  tolerable  service  for  the  propagation  of 
the  gospel ;  nor  have  I  received  much  instruction  from  a 
collection  of  papers  published  by  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  in  17 19, 
which  I  have  in  my  hands.  I  presume  it  must  be  by 
the  channel  of  New  England  that  you  propose  to  do 
some  service  in  this  way ;  however,  it  would  be  agreeable 
entertainment  to  me  to  receive  an  account  from  you 
concerning  the  management  of  these  collections,  and,  if 
there  be  any  room  for  it,  I  shall  be  desirous  of  recom- 
mending it  to  our  brethren  in  these  counties,  so  it  may 
be  brought  into  deliberation  at  our  meetings."  1 

It  is  probable  that,  though  much  was  felt,  little  was 
done.  Some  doubted  ;  some  thought  about  the  scheme 
in  the  spirit  of  Matthew  Greene's  couplet — 

"  Reforming  schemes  are  none  of  mine, 
To  mend  the  world's  a  vast  design  !  " 

Others  shook  their  heads  and  were  of  opinion  that,  although 
it  was  all  very  well  to  say  "  the  gospel  should  be  preached 
to  every  creature,"  it  was  a  vastly  difficult  thing  to  carry 
out ;  so  the  suggestion  was  not  taken  up  with  spirit.  We 
are  not  able  even  now  to  answer  Mr.  Harmer's  queries. 
No  notes  survive  to  show  what  funds  were  raised,  or  how 
they  were  applied.  We  know  that  Dr.  Doddridge  was 
the  medium  of  what  was  attempted,  and  that  the  enter- 
prise took  the  direction  of  America.  Our  colonies  were 
a  fringe  skirting  the  coast;  and  in  the  continent  beyond — 
now  wonderful  with  the  life  of  a  great  empire — were  vast 
lakes  of  grass  and  mysterious  woody  wildernesses,  in 
which  the  red  men  had  their  wigwams  and  hunting- 
grounds.     Their  tribes  were  very  numerous.  Bancroft 

»  Wilson  MSS. 


184  THE  INNER  LIFE  SPRINGING  : 


speaks  of  forty  on  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
these  poor  heathens,  starving  in  filthy  wretchedness  and 
cruelty,  yet  in  frequent  contact  with  our  settlers,  justly 
and  naturally  had  the  first  claim  on  our  kindness.  It  is 
not  likely  that  Dr.  Doddridge  had  many  contributions  in 
hand,  but  we  have  evidence  from  letters  written  in  1750 
that  what  he  had  were  applied  to  the  assistance  of 
missionary  efforts  made  by  Christian  colonists  who  were 
stationed  at  the  southern  outposts  of  civilisation.  Mr. 
Samuel  Davies,  Presbyterian  minister  of  Hanover  County, 
Virginia,  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  these,  and  there  is 
an  interesting  letter  written  by  him  to  Doddridge  this 
year,  giving  intelligence  about  the  mission,  and  thanking 
him  for  help.  Dr.  Doddridge  also  had  to  do  with  the 
earliest  measures  for  founding  the  college  in  New  Jersey, 
now  called  Princeton  College,  and  this  was  part  of  the 
same  missionary  work.  Writing  to  Mr.  Macculoch  April 
27,  1750,  Mr.  Whitefield  says:  "Last  week,  I  saw  Dr. 
Doddridge  concerning  it,  and  the  scheme  that  was  then 
judged  most  practical  was  this — that  Mr.  Pendleton's 
letter  should  be  printed,  and  that  a  recommendation  of 
the  affair  subscribed  by  the  doctor  and  others  should 
be  annexed,  and  that  subscriptions  and  collections  should 
be  set  on  foot.  .  .  .  The  spreading  of  the  gospel  in 
Maryland  and  in  Virginia  in  a  great  measure  depends  on 
it."  Job  Orton  says  :  "  He  lamented  that  there  were  so 
few  missionaries  among  the  Indians  near  our  settlements 
in  North  America;  and  was  very  desirous  to  train  up 
some  serious  youths  of  good  health  and  resolution  to  be 
employed  in  this  capacity.  Two  of  his  pupils  were 
educated  with  this  view,  and  would  cheerfully  have  gone 
upon  this  service,  but  their  nearest  relations  would  not 
permit  them.  'Such,'  saith  he,  'is  the  weakness  of  their 
faith  and  love !  I  hope  I  can  truly  say  that,  if  God 
would  put  it  into  the  heart  of  my  only  son  to  go  under 
this  character,  I  could  willingly  part  with  him,  though  I 
were  to  see  him  with  us  no  more.  What  are  the  views 
of  a  family  and  a  name,  when  compared  with  a  regard 
to  extending  my  Redeemer's  kingdom,  and  gaining  souls 


THE  OUTER  LIFE  SPENT. 


I85 


to  Christ?'"  The  reference  here  is  to  his  disappoint- 
ment in  two  young  men,  who  in  1750  were  understood 
to  be  going  from  the  academy  as  missionaries  to  New 
York.  His  heart  was  more  "than  ever  devoted  to  the 
missionary  cause,  and  it  was  about  this  date  that  he 
exclaimed,  "  I  am  now  intent  upon  having  something 
done  among  the  Dissenters,  in  a  more  public  manner, 
for  propagating  the  gospel  abroad,  which  lies  near  my 
heart.  I  wish  to  live  to  see  this  design  brought  into 
execution,  at  least  into  some  forwardness,  and  then  I 
should  die  the  more  cheerfully. " 

In  his  letters  of  this  year  are  several  allusions  to  an 
improved  state  of  health,  but  hints  found  in  the  letters  of 
friends  show  that  they  felt  doubtful  about  it  His  tall, 
slender, stooping  form;  his  thin,  flushed,  vibrating  features; 
the  hurried  breath  and  hollow  cough,  now  and  then  sug- 
gested misgivings.  There  were  many  persons  in  the 
world  who  prayed  earnestly  that  he  might  have  long  life. 
Here  are  sentences  from  a  letter  written  in  November, 
1750,  by  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon,  who  was  then 
very  ill : 

"  Prayers  from  me  you  will  have ;  and  I  believe  one  of 
the  last  I  put  up  will  be  to  beg  a  reward  for  you.  The 
involuntary  voice  of  my  heart  is  glory,  glory  !  Sure  great 
things  are  to  be  done  soon,  or  I  unfettered  soon  from 
flesh  and  blood.  I  will,  should  the  kind  lot  be  appointed 
for  me,  rejoice  over  you  as  your  ministering  spirit,  and  I 
shall  always  have  good  news  to  bring  you.  1  will  watch 
carefully  to  protect  your  life  long  upon  earth,  for  the 
sake  of  thousands  ;  and  then,  by  gentle  operation,  help 
to  unfold  your  garment  of  flesh,  and  with  my  fellow 
companions  waft  your  gracious  spirit  to  the  bridal  feast 
of  the  Lamb,  and  will  hymn  on  Mount  Zion  your  glorious 
deliverance." 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Darracott,  dated  December  5,  1 750,  he 
says  :  "  My  worthy  and  ever  honoured  friend  and  father, 


1  Transcribed  by  Mr.  Darracott.    Darracott  MSS. 


l86  THE  INNER  LIFE  SPRINGING  : 


Dr.  Clark  of  St.  Alban's,  died  last  night,  after  having  been 
wonderfully  renewed  of  late,  and  having  a  growing  pro- 
spect of  returning  to  public  usefulness.  I  think  he  ad- 
ministered the  Lord's  Supper  on  the  Lord's  day ;  w  as 
better  than  ordinary  at  noon,  but  was  immediately  seized 
and  carried  of!  in  a  paralytic  stroke.  O  blessed  spirit !  how 
does  he  exult  in  the  regions  of  everlasting  day  !  How 
sweetly  does  he  celebrate  the  praises  of  his  great  Deliverer, 
and  repay,  as  it  were,  in  additional  activity,  to  the 
utmost  of  his  enlarged  capacities,  the  want  of  service 
which  the  declining  state  of  his  health  has  of  late  months 
rendered  unavoidable  !  May  his  memory  never  be  absent 
one  day  from  my  mind,  but  may  I  ever  remember  how 
eminently  he  honoured  God,  and  was  honoured  by  Him, 
and  may  I  tread  in  those  shining  steps  in  which  he  was 
so  remarkably  and  so  steadily  a  follower  of  Christ — for  a 
steadier  Christian  I  have  never  known,  nor  a  man  more 
uniformly  good  !  "  1 

Dr.  Clark,  since  known  to  thousands  of  humble  Chris- 
tians by  his  "  Scripture  Promises,  '  was  the  friend  on  whom 
Doddridge  had  been  accustomed  to  lean,  and  from  whom 
since  the  days  of  his  orphaned  childhood  he  had  received 
constant,  wise,  and  beautiful  kindness.  The  letters  that 
passed  between  the  two  fill  a  thick  quarto  volume  of 
manuscript  Riding  to  the  funeral  of  his  friend  through 
the  white  winter  day,  he  caught  a  cold,  from  the  effects  of 
which  he  never  recovered.  The  next  year  was  a  year  of 
last  things.  His  last  printed  performance  came  out  in 
January,  under  the  title,  "  Meditations  on  the  Tears  of 
Jesus  over  the  Grave  of  Lazarus,"  and  was  his  funeral 
sermon  for  Dr.  Clark.  His  last  sacramental  service  was 
on  June  2nd,  when,  after  preaching  on  "  the  General  As- 
sembly and  Church  of  the  Firstborn,"  he  spoke  with 
solemn  delight  on  the  view  of  Christ  in  the  Rook  of  Reve- 
lations, as  holding  the  stars  in  His  right  hand  and  walking 
in  the  midst  of  the  golden  candlesticks.  The  last  work 
he  prepared  for  transcription  out  of  shorthand  for  the 


■  Darracott  MSS. 


THE  OUTER  LIFE  SPENT. 


I87 


press  was  "A  New  Translation  of  the  Minor  Prophets; 
with  Paraphrase  and  Notes."  This  was  finished  June  5, 
1751,  but  still  remains  locked  up  in  the  original  cyphers. 
Perhaps  the  last  glimpse  we  have  of  him  as  taking  part  in 
Methodistic  service  is  when,  at  Lady  Huntingdon's  seat 
at  Ashby,  we  find  him  discussing  with  Whitefield  the 
question  of  the  new  Tabernacle,  joining  in  hearty  approval 
and  promise  of  support.  This  we  believe  to  have  been  a 
little  later  in  June.  A  day  or  two  later  in  the  same  month, 
he  preached  at  a  meeting  of  ministers  at  Sudbury,  and 
made  his  last  attempt  to  rouse  public  interest  in  the  cause 
of  foreign  missions.  The  last  visit  he  paid  to  his  friends 
in  London  was  June  21st.  We  have  found  several  un- 
published letters  written  by  him  to  Mrs.  Doddridge  in  the 
course  of  this  visit.  In  one  of  these,  dated  June  22nd, 
he  says,  with  reference  to  his  recent  engagement  at  Sud- 
bury, "  /  hope  1  have  laid  a  good  stone  in  the  foundation  of 
that  scheme  for  the  propagation  of  the  gospel,  which  you 
know  I  have  lately  had  so  much  on  my  heart.  I  thank 
God,  I  feel  more  and  more  daily  how  little  the  value  of 
life  is,  any  further  than  it  may  subserve  the  purposes  of 
the  Divine  glory  and  the  good  of  mankind,  in  the  pursuit 
of  which  I  live  and  die ;  and  I  hope  I  may  say,  such 
prospects  opening  upon  us  indeed  increase  my  obligations 
to  take  all  the  more  care  of  my  health,  which,  out  of  grati- 
tude to  my  dear  wife,  who  is  pleased  to  set  such  a  dispro- 
portionate value  upon  it,  I  also  would  do."1  June  25th, 
he  wrote,  "  I  am  pure  well,  and  have  been  very  merry  to- 
night, and  laughing  abundantly  at  poor  Mr.  Addington 
about  his  mistress,  who,  if  I  can  help  it,  never  shall  be 
his  wife."  2  June  29th,  he  wrote,  "  If  there  be  any  con- 
sideration in  the  world,  next  to  the  honour  of  God  and 
the  edification  of  the  Church,  which  could  make  me  wish 
to  see  many  future  years,  it  is  that  I  may  enjoy  your  de- 
lightful friendship,  and  repay  it  by  every  act  of  gratitude 
and  expression  of  tenderness.  I  know  not  how  sufficiently 
to  thank  you  for  the  charming  letter  which  I  have  re- 


«  Wilson  MSS. 


3  Ibid. 


1 88  THE  INNER  LIFE  SPRINGING  : 


ceived  from  you  last  night,  and  I  think  I  have  been  better 
ever  since.  ...  I  have  been  pure  well  all  the  day,  and 
my  cough  has  been  very  civil."  Speaking  of  a  visit  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  he  said,  "  He  looks  most 
charmingly  well ;  I  think,  several  years  younger  than  when 
I  first  saw  him,  as  perhaps  your  Methusaleh  may  do  some 
years  hence." 

His  last  sermon  at  Northampton  was  preached  July 
14th,  and  was  founded  on  the  words,  "For  whether  we 
live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord;  and  whether  we  die,  we  die 
unto  the  Lord  :  whether  we  live  therefore,  or  die,  we  are 
the  Lord's."  The  last  service  of  all  was  a  charge  de- 
livered July  18th  at  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Adams,  of 
Bewdley ;  from  Bewdley  he  passed  on  to  Shrewsbury, 
where  he  spent  several  happy  weeks  in  the  house  of  his 
old  friend  and  former  pupil,  Mr.  Orton.  While  here  he 
received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Barker,  which  had  in  it  these 
passionate  lines : 

"  Consent  and  choose  to  stay  with  us  a  little  longer, 
my  dear  friend,  if  it  please  God.  This  is  not  needful  to 
Northampton  and  its  adjacent  towns  and  villages  only, 
but  desirable  to  us  all,  and  beneficial  to  our  whole  interest. 
Stay,  Doddridge,  oh  stay !  and  strengthen  our  hands  whose 
shadows  grow  long.  Fifty  is  but  the  height  of  vigour, 
usefulness,  and  honour.  Don't  leave  abruptly.  'Provi- 
dence hath  not  directed  thee  yet  on  whom  to  drop  thy 
mantle.  Who  shall  instruct  our  youth,  fill  our  vacant 
churches,  animate  our  associations,  and  diffuse  a  spirit  of 
piety,  moderation,  candour,  and  charity  through  our  vil- 
lages and  churches,  and  a  spirit  of  prayer  and  supplication 
into  our  towns  and  cities  when  thou  art  removed  from  us? 
Especially  who  shall  unfold  the  sacred  oracles,  teach  us 
the  meaning  and  use  of  our  Bibles,  rescue  us  from  the 
bondage  of  systems,  party  opinions,  empty,  useless 
speculations,  and  fashionable  forms  and  phrases ;  and 
point  out  to  us  the  simple,  intelligible,  consistent,  and 
uniform  religion  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour?  Who  shall 
 but  I  am  silenced  by  the  voice  of  Him  who  says, 


THE  OUTER  LIFE  SPENT. 


'  Shall  I  not  do  what  I  will  with  mine  own  ?  Is  it  not  my 
prerogative  to  take  and  leave  as  seemeth  me  good  ?  I 
demand  the  liberty  ot  disposing  of  my  own  sen-ants  at  my 
ow  n  pleasure.  He  hath  laboured  more  abundantly.  His 
times  are  in  my  hand.  He  hath  not  slept  as  do  others.  He 
hath  risen  to  nobler  heights  than  things  below.  He  hopes 
to  inherit  glory.  He  hath  laboured  for  that  which  cn- 
dureth  to  eternal  life — labour  which  the  more  it  abounds 
the  more  it  exalts  and  magnifies  its  objects,  and  the  more 
effectually  answers  and  secures  its  end.  It  is  yours  to 
wait  and  trust,  mine  to  dispose  and  govern;  on  me  be  the 
care  of  ministers  and  churches.  With  me  is  the  residue 
of  the  Spirit.  Both  the  vineyard  and  the  labourers  are 
mine.  I  set  them  in  work,  and  when  I  please  I  call  them, 
and  give  them  their  hire.'  With  these  thoughts  my  passions 
subside,  my  mind  is  softened  and  satisfied.  I  resign  tliee, 
myself,  and  all  to  God,  saying,  'Thy  will  be  done.'" 

In -August,  at  the  advice  of  his  physician  he  visited 
Bristol  to  try  the  effect  of  the  Hot-Wells,  and  a  clergyman 
of  the  Church  of  England  invited  him  with  the  most  de- 
licate kindness  to  accept  his  house  as  his  home  until  he 
could  find  lodgings  near  the  spot  Dr.  Maddox,  the 
Bishop  of  Worcester,  paid  him  a  visit,  and  offered  him  the 
use  of  his  own  carriage  at  the  stated  times  of  drinking  the 
water.  Becoming  still  weaker,  he  was  advised  to  try  a 
voyage  to  Lisbon.  To  defray  the  cost  of  this,  a  few  friends, 
including  Lady  Fanny  Shirley,  Lady  Chesterfield,  and 
the  Countess  of  Huntingdon,  contributed  three  hundred 
pounds,  the  latter  giving  one-third  of  the  amount.  Leav- 
ing Bristol  September  17th,  he  stopped  for  a  few  days  at 
Bath,  on  his  way  to  Falmouth.  Here  he  was  Lady  Hun- 
tingdon's guest.  We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Toplady  for 
the  following  anecdotes : 

"  While  Dr.  Doddridge  was  at  Bath,  on  his  way  to 
Falmouth,  Lady  Huntingdon's  house  at  Bath  was  his 
home.  On  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  he  set  out 
from  thence  for  Falmouth,  Lady  Huntingdon  came  into 
his  room,  and  found  him  weeping  over  that  passage  in 


190  THE  INNER  LIFE  SPRINGING  : 


the  prophet  Daniel  (chap.  x.  n,  12),  '0  Daniel,  a  man 
greatly  beloved. '  '  You  are  in  tears,  sir,'  said  Lady 
Huntingdon.  '  I  am  weeping,  madam,'  said  the  good 
Doctor,  '  but  they  are  tears  of  comfort  and  joy.  I  can 
give  up  my  country,  my  relations,  and  friends  into  the 
hand  of  God ;  and  as  to  myself,  I  can  as  well  go  to  heaven 
from  Lisbon  as  from  my  own  study  at  Northampton.' 
Told  me  by  Lady  Huntingdon,  at  Clifton,  this  day,  Aug. 
19.  I77S- 

"  She  also  said  that  Dr.  Warburton  (the  present  Bishop 
of  Gloucester)  came  to  see  her  the  evening  before  the  day 
above-mentioned.  Dr.  Doddridge,  Dr.  Oliver  (the  phy- 
sician), and  Dr.  Hartley  (author  of  '  The  Observations  on 
Man '),  were  in  the  room  at  the  time.  Warburton,  who 
never  knew  anything  of  politeness  or  refined  behaviour, 
ran  out  very  furiously  against  what  he  called  enthusiasm  ; 
and  observed,  however,  that '  all  enthusiasts  were  honest, 
though  extremely  warm  and  extravagant  in  their  zeal.' 
Shortly  after,  Oliver  Cromwell's  name  came  on  the  carpet ; 
and  Warburton  termed  him  'the  greatest  enthusiast 
and  the  greatest  rogue  that  ever  existed.'  Lady  Hun- 
tingdon pointed  out  the  inconsistency  of  such  a  remark, 
from  the  gentleman  who  had  said  just  before,  '  enthusiasm 
and  honesty  always  went  together ; '  but  Warburton  (who, 
I  believe,  was  never  known  either  to  blush,  to  retract, 
or  to  apologise)  brazened  it  out  very  lamely."  1 

Ten  days  after  he  had  left  Bristol,  which  from  unfavour- 
able weather  on  his  journey,  bad  roads,  and  increas- 
ing weakness  were  days  of  great  fatigue,  he  arrived  at 
Falmouth,  where  he  was  the  guest  of  Dr.  Turner,  until 
the  time  of  his  embarkation.  While  here  he  expressed 
himself  in  this  way  when  writing  to  a  friend,  we  believe 
Mr.  Darracott : 

"  I  am,  upon  the  whole,  better  than  could  be  expected 
after  such  a  journey.  Let  us  thank  God,  and  take 
courage.    We  may  yet  know  many  cheerful  days.  We 

Toplady's  Works,  vol.  iv.  pp.  141,  142. 


THE  OUTER  LIFE  SPENT.  191 


shall  at  least  know  (why  do  I  say  at  least  ?)  one  joyful 
one,  which  shall  be  eternal.  I  have  trespassed  a  great 
deal  on  your  time,  and  a  little  on  my  own  strength.  I 
say  a  little,  for  when  writing  to  such  a  friend,  as  I  seem 
less  absent  from  him,  it  soothes  my  mind  agreeably.  Oh  ! 
when  shall  we  meet  in  that  world,  where  we  shall  have 
nothing  to  lament,  and  nothing  to  fear  for  ourselves  or 
each  other,  or  any  dear  to  us  !  Let  us  think  of  this  as  a 
momentary  state,  and  aspire  more  ardently  after  the 
blessings  of  that  If  I  survive  my  voyage,  a  line  shall 
tell  you  how  I  bear  it ;  if  not,  all  will  be  well ;  and  as 
good  Mr.  Howe  says,  I  hope  I  shall  embrace  the  wave 
which,  when  I  intended  Lisbon,  would  land  me  in 
heaven  !  I  am  more  afraid  of  doing  what  is  wrong  than 
of  dying." 

Mr.  Toplady  has  referred  to  some  of  Dr.  Warburton's 
salient  characteristics.  There  was,  however,  kindness 
under  the  roughness,  and  he  deserves  to  be  held  in  per- 
petual remembrance  for  his  last  kindness  to  his  sick  friend. 
He,  with  Mr.  Allen  of  Prior  Park  (Fielding's  Mr.  All- 
worthy),  used  their  influence  at  the  London  Post  Office 
to  obtain  for  him,  in  the  packet,  the  exclusive  use  of  the 
captain's  cabin,  who  was  not  sailing  on  that  occasion. 
On  September  30th,  accompanied  by  his  anxious  wife 
and  a  servant,  he  set  sail  from  Falmouth.  He  was  what 
is  called  "  a  good  sailor,"  and,  seated  in  his  easy-chair, 
enjoyed  the  soft  wind  and  the  sight  of  the  shimmering, 
heaving  sea.  Best  of  all,  he  had  the  happiest  thoughts 
of  his  life.  He  would  say  :  "  Such  transporting  views  of 
the  heavenly  world  is  my  Father  now  indulging  me  with, 
no  words  can  express."  Mrs.  Doddridge  afterwards  de- 
clared that  sometimes  the  rapture  that  lighted  his  face 
reminded  her  of  his  own  lines — 

"  When  Death  o'er  Nature  shall  prevail, 
And  all  the  powers  of  language  fail  ; 
Joy  through  my  swimming  eyes  shall  break, 
And  mean  the  bliss  I  cannot  speak." 

When  the  ship  was  gliding  up  the  Tagus,  and  Lisbon 


1 92  THE  INNER  LIFE  SPRINGING  : 


with  its  groves,  gardens,  and  palaces  appeared  in  sunny 
perspective,  the  sight  seemed  to  give  him  a  iiesh  glow 
of  health  and  spirits.  He  was  warmly  received  at  the 
house  of  Mr.  David  King,  whose  mother  was  a  member  of 
his  congregation  at  Northampton,  and  here  the  illusive 
appearance  of  increased  strength  soon  vanished,  and  on 
October  26th  all  was  over.  Put  a  flower  into  the  cold 
hand,  let  all  passion  sink  into  peace.  "  Blessed  are  the 
dead  which  die  in  the  Lord  .-.  .  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit, 
that  they  may  rest  from  their  labours ;  and  their  works 
do  follow  them."  Black,  for  those  who  wear  the  white 
robes  of  the  glorified,  seems  to  be  out  of  place  ;  but  we 
may  wear  it  for  the  bereaved.  Lisbon  was  a  disappoint- 
ment. Poor  Mercy  !  To  her  the  sun  shone  with  a  cruel 
glory,  and  the  air  swept  with  a  mocking  freshness  now. 
But  she  was  not  left  comfortless.  Even  in  the  hour  of 
her  first,  unspeakable  solitude,  the  Great  Comforter  filled 
her  with  His  own  strength.  In  writing  the  story  of  her 
last  distress,  she  said  to  her  children,  "'God  all  sufficient, 
and  my  only  hope,'  is  my  motto ;  let  it  be  yours." 

"Doddridge  is  gone,"  said  George  Whitefield;  "Lord 
Jesus,  prepare  me  to  follow  after !  "  Spoken  or  un- 
spoken, this  was  the  prayer  of  many  a  mourner.  Some 
of  those  who  were  most  earnest  in  presenting  it,  and  who 
tried  to  follow  him  most  faithfully,  were  left  long  on  the 
road.  His  widow  was  on  her  lonely  journey  after  him 
for  nearly  forty  years  ;  and  three  of  his  children  lived  to 
a  much  later  date.  Our  plan  does  not  permit  us  to  tell 
the  tale  of  their  lives  ;  but  this  is  the  order  in  which  the 
members  of  the  family  passed  away  : — Philip,  only  son, 
died  unmarried,  March  13,  1785,  aged  47  ;  Mrs.  Dodd- 
ridge died  April  7,  1790,  aged  82;  Mary,  who  married 
John  Humphreys,  Esq.,  died  June  8,  1799  ;  Mercy  died 
October  20,  1809,  aged  75  ;  and  Anna  Cecilia,  October  3, 
181 1,  aged  74. 

In  the  Times  for  May  23,  1879,  there  was  this  notice, 
quoted  from  the  Athenceum ;  "  The  tombs  of  Henry 
Fielding  and  Dr.  Doddridge,  who  are  buried  in  the 
English  cemetery  at  Lisbon,  have  been  cleaned,  and  their 


THE  OUTER  LIVE  SPENT.  193 


inscriptions  renovated,  by  the  order  of  the  Rev.  Godfrey 
Pope,  the  resident  chaplain.  The  monuments  of  these 
famous  Englishmen  sadly  required  such  an  attention." 

Few  will  question  the  claims  of  Dr.  Doddridge  to  be 
entitled,  as  in  this  notice,  "a  famous  Englishman."  Say 
that  he  was  not  a  famous  English  classic,  not  a  famous 
poet,  not  a  famous  orator;  he  was  yet  a  great  man.  He 
was  a  great  genius,  if  we  accept  Carlyle's  definition, 
"  Genius,  which  means  transcendent  capacity  for  taking 
trouble."  He  was  a  great  worker,  and  we  have  shown 
that,  by  strict  system  and  constant  plodding,  he  did  an 
amount  of  work  in  twenty  years  that  hardly  any  other  life 
can  match.  He  was  a  pioneer  in  several  great  enter- 
prises of  social  and  evangelical  beneficence.  He  was  a 
great  pattern  of  charity.  He  was  a  great  instrument  of 
conversion — if  not  in  his  own  lifetime,  yet  ever  since;  for 
every  year  since  he  died,  thousands,  consciously  or  un- 
consciously, have  enjoyed  good  thoughts,  good  impulses, 
and  helps  to  Divine  life  that  had  their  instrumental  origin 
in  the  soul  of  Doddridge  ;  and  if,  to  borrow  the  phrase 
of  the  other  famous  Englishman,  whose  name  has  just 
been  connected  with  his  own,  he  had  not  "great  great- 
ness," he  had  great  goodness; — this  we  say  remembering 
that  "  what  is  good  in  us,  is  God  in  us."  Few  men  have 
been  more  useful  than  he  by  the  power  of  those  "indirect 
influences  which  distil  from  a  life,  rather  than  from  sud- 
den, separate,  brilliant  efforts  ; "  and  if  no  other  motive 
existed  for  calling  fresh  attention  to  him,  there  would  be 
that  which  the  present  essayist  takes  leave  to  express  in 
borrowed  words — the  last  words  ever  written  by  the  late 
Dr.  Hodge,  of  Princeton  College— who,  when  giving  his 
reason  for  setting  before  his  students  the  life-story  of  a 
great,  good  man,  said  :  "  I  wanted  to  show  how  much 
good  could  be  done  by  simply  being  good." 


'4 


